Second Chances
by Gamana
Summary: Things did not turn out well at the last second, so of course Urahara has a reset button. Suddenly, Ichigo is once again a nine year old boy watching his mother get attacked by a hollow. My own take on a Bleach time travel fic.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

1

There was a blinding white light. The first sensation after was rain. Ichigo was very confused by this turn of events. It hadn't been raining in the Royal Realm. He wasn't even sure it did rain in the Royal Realm. Urahara had thrown something at him. How had he even gotten up here? Was that thing he had thrown at Ichigo the cause of the white light? And Aizen was there too, with Urahara?

The next thing he felt was the reiatsu of a hollow. It was so sudden and unexpected. Ichigo's mouth went dry and his body tensed in reaction. He may not be the best at sensing reiatsu, but he knew this hollow. It was the Grandfisher. Goat-face had killed the Grandfisher hollow, right? Also, very close to him he could sense another person, a Quincy?

The Quincy was fighting the Grandfisher. Ichigo felt so useless he was on his knees scrabbling at the ground, which feel like asphalt. Asphalt? Was he even still in the Royal Realm? He reached for Zangetsu only to have his hand close around thin air. _ No! I can't loose them again. _ Loosing his powers the first time had sent him on a downward spiral he had not even recognized until it was almost too late. Having his companions back in his inner world made him realize just how lonely he was without them. The only bright side to the whole situation is that he still had his reiryoku.

He raised his reiastu. So what if he couldn't feel Zangetsu at the moment. He still had his reiatsu. If he couldn't kill this hollow with Zangetsu, then he would crush it with his spirit pressure. As his eyes cleared he saw the hollow stumble under the assault. The Quincy was standing right in front of him, a woman. Long blond hair pulled back into a low pony tail, Mom? _It can't be._

The woman whipped around at the increase in reiatsu. Wide brown eyes stare back at him in surprise, and his heart stopped beating. It is her. His mother was standing in front of him, alive. He gazed past her taking in his surroundings for the first time. This is the exact spot where she died. He could see the river, the rain, the empty road. Everything was as he remembered it that day, as it had been burned into his mind.

On instinct he increased his reiatsu. He had no idea what was going on, but he could not let this woman, his mother, die here. The Grandfisher was pinned to the ground, unable to move and was slowly suffocating. Suddenly his mother, who had been standing fine under his reiatsu, started to struggle for breath. She fell to the ground, and Ichigo had to let up on his spirit pressure. Ichigo remembered that this was not just the day his mother lost her life, but the day she also lost her powers as a Quincy. He could not kill the hollow without killing her as well. He did not have the control necessary to pick targets for his reiatsu.

He stood with tears running down his face mixing with the rain. No, he could not be this useless again. Ichigo moved himself between the hollow and his mother. This time he would save her, even if he had to sacrifice himself; even if this was just one of Aizen's illusions.

A flash of green catches Ichigo's attention. Urahara appeared, his hat pulled low over his face, cane in hand. Ichigo saw red. He remembered Urahara in the Royal Realm standing next to Aizen. And now he is just coincidentally here of all places, watching a mother desperately try to protect her son, and he did nothing. Ichigo wanted nothing more than to kill the traitorous bastard in that moment.

Urahara was looking at him with a surprised expression on his face. "Urahara you evil bastard! Kill it," Ichigo screamed at him. "Kill it now! If she dies I will destroy you!"

Urahara lurched backward at the forceful words. He was positive the boy had never met him. How did he know his name? Ichigo stared at him with pure venom in his eyes. The boy was swaying slightly from over exerting himself. The sheer amount of reiatsu he was giving off draining his reserves. Making his decision Urahara drew Benihime and dispatched the hollow with a casual flick of his wrist. Behind him the boy collapsed from exhaustion next to his still living mother.

2

Ichigo woke in the familiar surroundings of the spare bedroom in Urahara's shop. He scowled at the thought of waking up in that scorpion's den. Urahara must have carried him back.

Ichigo attempted to sit up but lay back quickly when he felt a pain in his chest. Funny he did not remember being wounded. He lay still and checked himself over and felt no open wounds. His chest felt heavy for some reason, and his skin felt too tight. He also could not shake the sensation of feeling trapped.

He tried once more to call upon his sword spirits for advice but heard nothing. Swallowing, he lay back down and prepared to enter his inner world. It took him longer than expected to relax and descend into his mind scape, but finally he managed to enter the horizontal city. He looked around at the deserted scenery. It was the same as always. "Shiro? Ossan?" He called.

There was no answer. Ichigo started to panic. He crouched down took deep breaths to calm himself. They weren't here. He still had his reiryoku but Zangestu was not here. He could not go through this again. He could not be alone again.

Ichigo's eyes snapped open back in the guest room of the shop. He leaped off the futon, ignoring the pain and dizziness and slammed open the shoji door. He stumbled drunkenly down the hall to the kitchen where he can hear Urahara and his father talking.

Ichigo fell against the door jam breathing hard. He knew he was on the verge of a full blown panic attack and that this was not the best state to confront Urahara in, but he didn't care. He looked up to see Isshin half standing and Urahara staring at him. Both men gaped at him. "What did you do with them?" Ichigo growls rushing over and grabbing Urahara by the shirt.

"Ichigo-" his father started.

"Shut up Goat-face." Isshin was shocked. His son had never called him that before. "Where are they? That flash, what did you do?" Ichigo screamed at Urahara.

"Where are who?" Urahara asked very confused by the whole situation. The boy did not act like any nine year old that he had ever seen.

"Zangetsu, you lying fuck! What did you do with them?"Ichigo screamed hysterically.

"Them?" Urahara for once in a very long time felt out of his depth.

"Ichigo," Isshin tried again to calm his son down by placing a hand on the boy's back. Ichigo flinched and turned on his father with wild eyes. Isshin took the boys hands and pulled them from Urahara's shirt. "Who is Zangetsu?" He asked.

For the first time Ichigo really looked at his father. He looked a lot younger than he did the last time Ichigo had seen him, less care-worn. He looked down at his own hands in Isshin's. He was surprised at how small they looked, way too small. _How? _

"I don't understand what is happening. I need to talk with Zangestu."

Those words hurt Isshin. Who was this Zangestu to have earned Ichigo's trust when he would not talk to his own father? "Who is Zangestu?" He tried again, attempting to remain calm. Ichigo's anxiousness was rubbing off on him.

Ichigo pulled himself free of Isshin's grasp and stumbled back a few steps. Frustrated tears ran down his face. He was angry, he hadn't cried this much since the night he regained his shinigami powers. He fell back on the floor gazing at his much shorter legs. "Zangestu," he chokes out in a tiny voice. Both older men lean in to hear better. "is my zanpakuto."

Isshin collapsed back in his chair in surprise. Urahara spread his fan over the lower half of his face in a blatant attempt to hid his own reaction. He gave Ichigo a considering look over the fan, blue eyes trying to dissect the boy on the spot.

"How do you know what a zanpakuto is?" Isshin finally choked out.

Ichigo frowned and met Urahara's piercing gaze. "Not in front of him."

"Ichigo..." Isshin tried again.

"I don't trust him."

"Son."

"He is working with Aizen."

Urahara jerked at the name eyes wide.

"Urahara-san is an old friend of mine." Isshin said.

"I bet." Ichigo shot back. "Aizen sent that hollow to kill mom."

Isshin stared at his son who was glaring at Urahara.

The blond sat very still under the scrutiny. "Why?" Ichigo asked in a broken voice. "Why did you take her from me?"

Urahara blinked. The boy thought his mother was dead? "Your mother is still alive, as are you." He said very carefully.

Ichigo stared unable to process the information fully. "Alive?" The hope in the boy's voice was painful to hear.

"Yes, very much so. She is resting. Her powers as a Quincy seem to be gone though." Urahara said.

"You would know. You planned for that to happen during the attack." Ichigo snapped at him.

Urahara studied the boy. He knew the boy was making his assumptions on … something. But they were deadly accurate nonetheless.

"Is that true?" Isshin asked him.

Urahara sighed. He would have to be very careful with how he answered that. Lost powers or not Isshin would find a way to kill him if he thought Urahara meant any harm to the man's family. But he had to salvage this situation. Aizen was going to be pissed. Ten years of planning just went down the tubes. He smiled slightly at the thought before wiping his face clear of emotions. "It was not my idea." He began. Isshin's face hardened at his words. "The attack was timed perfectly to when we knew she would loose her abilities." Isshin started to growl. "I was there to make sure that Ichigo himself did not die." Urahara looked down at his forgotten tea cup, turning it in his hands and trying to ignore the fact that he was sitting next to a man who wanted to kill him. "As for why, we need the boy to be stronger."

"What the hell, Urahara?" Isshin yelled, fists clenched in rage. He could not believe what the shop keeper was saying.

"This has something to do with the Spirit King, doesn't it?" Ichigo asked. "Aizen was always very blunt about wanting to kill the Spirit King. It's why you-"

"I would not call Aizen blunt in any sense of the word." Urahara said taking another sip of cold tea. He wondered why the boy spoke as if he knew both Aizen and him personally. He would swear yesterday that the boy didn't even know his name. His hand shook slightly. He had not been caught off guard in over one hundred years. He was not happy about it. "May I ask you a question?" He ventured.

"No," was the immediate reply.

"But you do need my help, don't you?"

Ichigo grit his teeth. The answer was obviously yes. "I don't trust you."

"With good reason, but I will do anything in my power to help you nonetheless."

"You want me to kill the Spirit King for you. I'm just a weapon to you."

Isshin gasped. He had been trying to follow the exchange between his son and the man he had always known was more than a little shady. He felt the two of them were having two different conversations, and he didn't understand either of them.

"No, Ichigo." Ichigo looked up at Urahara's words. The determination in the man's eyes stopped him cold. "I want you to replace the Spirit King." This time it was Ichigo's turn to gasp in shock. "Your mother is making you soft. You will never reach the level required of you while you lean on her."

Ichigo remained silent.

"I thought I could trust you." Isshin said from Urahara's side.

"I am not in this to make friends Kurosaki-san." Urahara said pulling his hat lower over his face. He went on clinically. "Though I think your wife's death will be unnecessary now. The boy is far stronger than I had thought possible."

A fist connected with Urahara's jaw. The man had been expecting it and did not even try to lessen the blow. Being who and what he was he managed to keep his seat. He massaged his quickly bruising jaw.

"I want you to stay away from my family." Isshin said standing. "I know I can't fight you as I am now, but I wont stand by and let you use my son."

Ichigo cursed silently. This was not going well. He needed that lying sack of shit. Regardless of how untrustworthy he was. "Wait, Goat-face." Isshin twitched at the name. "This has already gone way too far. I'm already too powerful for us to ignore it. At the very least hollows will be attacking our home on a nightly basis. Right?" He asked directing the question at Urahara.

The man nodded. "His power is already greater than a good number of the captains. They will find him."

Isshin glared at both of them. "Who will find him?"

"Everyone, I'm afraid." Urahara answered.

"I want to make a deal." Ichigo said.

"No," Isshin said. "You are too young to be involved in things like this." Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest and just looked at his father. For the first time since the hollow incident Isshin got a really good look at his son. The boy's eyes were much too knowledgeable for his age and far too determined. That calm gaze rattled Isshin more than anything else had so far. "Ichigo," he said trying to remain firm. "You are only nine years old. I am your father, and I say no."

Ichigo twitched. He was nine? Ignoring everything else his father said he turned to Urahara. "I want them back. I want Zangestu back."

Urahara nodded. It was after all what he wanted as well.

"Ichigo!"

"Dad please." Isshin stopped at the sound of his son's voice. The soft, high pitch on the edge of breaking down into tears. His son was begging him. He bowed his head in acquiescence. Ichigo had been hysterical while asking about his zanpakuto. He tried to remind himself that Ichigo needed this. He himself still felt the loss of his companion. He would be staying to keep an eye on both of them though.

Urahara let go of the breath he had been holding. He was grateful that Isshin was going to go along with this. Though he suspected the man did not fully understand what his son was asking for but surprisingly the boy obviously did. "When?" He asked.

"Now."

Urahara sighed. He got up from the low table and led the way to his basement. He went in first. As they were climbing down the ladder he began to speak. "You know, it would be nice if I had time to prepare for this."

"No," was the only answer he got.

Ichigo wished his father had not come. He did indeed know what he was doing. He had done it before. Though it had taken awhile the first time for him to realize that he was actually dead and in a sense possessing his own body. He rubbed his chest where his chain of fate would be in his spirit form. The cutting of his chain of fate had ended up being the least traumatic thing to happen to him that day.

"Wow," Isshin whistled in appreciation of the training room in spite of himself. Ichigo looked around at rocky terrain in the seemingly endless underground chamber. He remembered his own awe and surprise the first time he had seen it. His lack of reaction had to look suspicious to Urahara. Indeed the 'humble shopkeeper' was studying him intently while leaning on his cane. The man looked distinctly unhappy. As if he had run into a puzzle that he could not immediately solve. _Well tough_, Ichigo thought, _the traitor isn't going to get answers from him. He can figure it out all on his own._ Ichigo huffed. He was dreaming after all. If Urahara didn't already know what was going on he was half way there.

Ichigo walked up to the man dearly wishing he already had Zangestu in his hands. "I have no choice but to trust you." He said for Urahara alone. "But if you hurt anyone I care about again, I will end you." He looked Urahara dead in the eye and tried to ignore the fact that his father was standing right there ready to protect him. "Separate my soul from my body." The boy stated calmly. Isshin gave a shocked cry of surprise, only now catching on to what they were doing.

"Done this before have you?" Urahara asked lightly. "Ichigo, you do know what you are asking,hmm?"

"Yes, I do."

Urahara hummed again and put a finger to his chin affecting a thoughtful pose. "Obviously you do not trust me. Perhaps it would be wiser to ask someone like say your father, to do the deed."

Ichigo glared at the man and tried his damnedest to remember all the times Urahara had actually helped him, in his own twisted way. "Of all the people I would ask, you are the only one ruthless enough to do it."

"You say such shocking things for a little boy." With that Urahara lifted his cane and smacked Ichigo on the head with the end. Even though he was expecting it Urahara still managed to take him by surprise. His body slumped lifeless to the ground. Ichigo himself felt what seemed to be a rush of wind and then a lightness all over his body. He fell backward, tripping over the chain that still connected him with the slumped form of his real body. He fell and lifted a section of chain curiously. He tugged lightly and felt a dull ache in his chest. _That's the pain_, he thought. _What is going on?_ He was still attached to his body by the chain of fate. He had thought he only needed help separating himself from his body like he always did.

He looked over to where his father was clutching his lifeless body to his chest. Isshin was wide eyed and pale. Ichigo really did feel for the man. He was going to watch his son die after all. Ichigo closed his eyes for a moment to prepare himself. He pushed his doubts away and got back to his feet. He stood in front of Urahara who merely looked back questioning. Ichigo himself remained silent. He grabbed a length of chain and pulled it taunt between his hands. He thrust the chain at Urahara.

The man actually seemed to falter for a moment. A shadow of doubt plain to seen in his eyes. "You cannot go back." he said.

"I go forward." Ichigo answered unflinchingly.

"No," Isshin choked out. "You can't." He grabbed Urahara's arm "You are killing him."

"Regrettably," Urahara answered the unasked question. "But your son is strong, Kurosaki-san, stronger than even I expected."

"Do it." Ichigo said.

"Ichigo," Isshin pleaded.

"It's too late, tou-san." Ichigo said bowing his head so that Isshin could not see his eyes. "You just don't know how late." He finished in a whisper.

Urahara seized his chance in the silence. He drew his sword, his arm shot forward, and the chain between Ichigo's hands severed with an anticlimactic tink.

Ichigo suddenly felt lighter. This was how his soul body was supposed to feel. He grinned unconsciously and did a quick shunpo backward just to see if he could. He ended up about ten yards from the two men. Both stared at him.

"How?" Urahara asked.

Isshin gaped at his son while crushing the young body to his chest. "Don't hurt my body, dad. Once I get Zangetsu I will be able to use it again. Isshin blinked and turned to Urahara for conformation. The man nodded his head in answer.

Ichigo wondered briefly what they each thought of this development. Shrugging it off as unimportant he tried a couple more bursts of shunpo. After the last he was sweating. Evidently even his spirit body was not used to extreme exertion. He plopped down ungracefully and crossed his legs. He was eager to get Zangetsu back. "Just don't bother me while I am looking for Zangetsu." He threw over his shoulder before closing his eyes and preparing himself to enter his inner world.

3

The sun in his inner world was bright, almost cheery. It shown down on the horizontal landscape and reflected off the glass windows of the skyscrapers. After a few minutes of collecting his thoughts. Ichigo tried to remember how he had found Zangetsu the first time. Somehow he had thought it would be easier when his inner world wasn't disintegrating. He walked slowly along the building he was on trying to picture what he had done before. It had been three years after all. An image of a red ribbon floated across his mind. _Oh, yeah_. _Shinigami have red spirit ribbons, and so did Zangetsu._

Ichigo closed his eyes and felt for it. White threads surrounded him and he fished through them. After a few minutes the red thread flashed across his mind. He grabbed it intent on following it to Zangestu. There was another flash of red. "What the hell?" Ichigo reached out and grabbed that thread too. He looked at the threads. They were distinctly two different threads. He scratched his head in annoyance. Another red thread appeared just out of reach. Ichigo just stared at it completely flummoxed. More and more red threads joined the first ones. "How the hell am I supposed to find Zangetsu now?" Ichigo bit his lip and grabbed a thread at random. He followed it to the end and as he touch the end of the thread a memory came to his mind. He was standing under the moon of Las Noches watching three hollows chase a little girl across the dessert; Nel.

Memories, only one of them would lead him to Zangetsu. He could do this. He just needed to concentrate on Zangetsu. As he did when he found that little boys spirit to lead him to Chad. All of those threads had been white, so... He thought about the sword spirits and many of the threads faded. But that left him with another problem. There were so many different incarnations of Zangetsu that even he was confused by them on occasion. The Zangetsu he wanted was not the single blade or the first incomplete blade he had. It was his dual blade. Because both of them were Zangetsu after all. He thought back to the moment in Ouestu Namaiya's palace, when he had first held the two blades, and his resolution to accept both of them; all of himself.

A single red ribbon remained in his hand. It tugged almost playfully in the wind leading him on. Ichigo shunpoed over the landscape f his inner world on his way to find his closest companions. When he stopped at the end of the ribbon he noticed that it disappeared into thin air, but it clearly looked attached to something. Ichigo trailed his hand along the ribbon to the very end. He frowned as he felt nothing from where the ribbon ended. Frustrated he grabbed the ribbon and yanked. From out of the air the hilt of a long sword appeared, black and red with red tassels. "There you are." he said pulling the sword. He had to step back several times due to his new lack of height. The sword clunked on the glass when he pulled it completely out. "Eh," He stood the sword on end. It was almost two feet taller than he was. "You just can't be agreeable, can you?" He groused at the sword.

4

He awoke in Urahara's basement with a plain long sword across his lap, completely black save for the red on the hilt. He was dressed in his normal shihakusho: black with two white straps across his chest to hold his shikai blades, with shoulder guard on his left, and a white cloak tied around his waist with black markings . Both his father and Urahara were staring at him. They had evidently moved off a ways and settled on some of the smaller rocks to watch. This was becoming a very disturbing theme with them. It was almost like they expected him to do tricks. His father came over and leaned over his shoulder to to get a good look at the blade. "You can call it without the aid of an asuichi?" He asked. "That should make it weaker."

Ichigo glared at him. "I can infuse it into an asuichi later, if you have one lying around. Until then, they will be strong enough."

Isshin blinked. Mentioning the asuichi had been something of a test. But his son's confidence in himself and apparently his zanpakuto remained unshaken. He did not expect his son to even know what an asuichi was. It was also surprising the way he always addressed his zanpakuto in the plural. Isshin wondered if that meant it was a dual blade.

Ichigo stood with some difficulty. The long sword threw him off balance. He started to pull the sheath off the blade. He only managed to get half of the blade out of the sheath before he had his arm fully extended. He growled at the blade. He really did hate his nine year old body.

His dad coughed suspiciously and Urahara had that damn fan covering his mouth and likely a wide grin. Ichigo wrinkled his nose and stared at the half sheathed blade. "Do you need some help, son?"

"No," Ichigo snapped prompting another smothered laughing fit from his dear old dad. Leaving the sheath where it was he grabbed the hilt in both hands and swung the sword across his body with all of his might. The sheath flew off the end of the blade and skidded to a stop several feet away. He could already hear Zangestu laughing at him and he hadn't even unsealed the bastard yet. It didn't help his temper at all that both men were laughing at him again and not even bothering to hide it.

As much as it pained him, his instinct was telling him that he would need the sheath to unseal his zanpakuto, so he stomped over to it while the old men snickered at him. He shot both of them a withering look as he bent to pick up the sheath. Isshin just giggled harder. _Stupid Goat-face_, he thought uncharitably. _I am so glad he is entertained._

Ichigo held both blade and sheath in his hands, blade in his right hand and the sheath in his left. He thrust both out in front of him parallel to the ground. The blade shook as he was barely strong enough to hold it.

He closed his eyes and let his reiatsu build around him, savoring the feeling. It was not often he got to release his zanpakuto. Both Urahara and Isshin stopped laughing and backed away as the reiatsu whipped at their clothes. Urahara clamped down on his hat with his hand to keep it from being blown away.

"Cleave the sky asunder, Zangetsu!"

The reiatsu swirling around him blew outward as a pillar of pale blue light shot up into the darkness. When the light cleared Ichigo was left with two blades in his hands. In his right he held a giant Khyber knife, pitch black with a cut out going half way down the blade from the hilt; and in his left a trench knife easily as long as his arm, also pitch black. Both men stared in wonder at the small boy.

Ichigo swiftly sheathed the blades as they had scaled down to his actual size. The quick movement startled both men. It had been far too practiced for someone unsealing their blade for the first time. Ichigo had closed his eyes and was obviously speaking with his sword spirit. Suddenly two men stood behind Ichigo. The one on the right was a young man, dressed completely in white, white skin, and white hair that stood in spikes as Ichigo's tended to do. But the eyes were yellow on black sclera. Urahara's own eyes widened in surprised as he sensed the reiatsu given off by the young man. It was a hollow.

The man on the left was even more shocking. The reiatsu was that of a Quincy! He was a tall man in his mid-forties. With the shadow of a beard and long unkempt hair. He wore a long black cloak and tinted sunglasses over his eyes. For a zanpakuto to have two spirits that did not hold the reiatsu of a shinigami but the other aspects of the boy's heritage... Urahara frowned in thought.

Ichigo himself broke both men from their respective thoughts. He jumped at the hollow. Isshin and Urahara did not know how to react to this. It was clearly a hollow, without a mask and no visible hole, but still a hollow. The hollow in question caught Ichigo mid jump and lifted him up so that Ichigo could wrap his arms and legs around him. Ichigo buried his face in the hollow's shihakusho. The dark haired man leaned over and whispered something into Ichigo's ear, to which Ichigo nodded.

"Hey Aibou, you shrunk." The hollow said double-tone voice tinged with amusement. Ichigo's only reply was to lightly punch the hollow on the shoulder.

Both of the spirits faced the two, once again, shocked men. "Yo!" the hollow greeted a maniacal grin spreading across his face. The older man merely nodded.

"Hi!" Urahara called back with a cheer he did not feel. Isshin looked at him like he was insane. He had yet to get over the surprising forms his son's zanpakuto spirits had taken as well as the dual blade itself.

The Zanpakuto spirits stared Urahara down until he pulled down his hat frowning. "Maa, It seems you hold your wielder's opinion of me."

"I want you dead." the hollow stated plainly.

Urahara paled.

"You are a devious and amoral man." The other spirit said. "The only reason you are still alive is that his mother lives too. I suggest you start to take Ichigo seriously."

"I see." Urahara said.

"Speaking of-" the hollow said. "King here is falling asleep."


	2. Chapter 2

1

Ichigo woke once more lying on a futon in the Urahara shoten. He immediately probed for his zanpakuto spirits. Tension he hadn't even been aware of evaporated when he got two responses to his inquiry. A slight, relieved smile shifted across his features before his usual frown settled into place. The expression looked strange on his nine year old face.

He was surprised to still be at Urahara's since he had gotten the man to admit to conspiring toward his mother's death. He had expected to wake up at home, safe in his own bed. Ichigo pushed back the blanket covering him and walked to the shoji door. He stopped with his hand on the door. Urahara had said that his mother was still alive. He did not know if he could face her right now; after all that he had done. Would she be proud of him? He already knew that he could not be the happy, innocent son he had been only yesterday to her.

Ichigo took a deep breath and opened the door. He walked slowly down the hall to the common area where his mother and father sat across from Urahara at the low table. He stopped at the door unable to go any further. His mother really was alive, worried and clearly uneasy with the current situation but alive. His dad was wearing an unfamiliar scowl that rivaled Ichigo at his best. It was a bizarre experience to see it. Urahara looked his usual unflappable self, but he had pulled his hat low over his eyes, a clear indication that he was hiding his true emotions.

"Morning," He croaked just to break the silence that was pressing down on him. All three adults had turned toward him.

"Afternoon," His father said staring into his eyes, searching. "You were out for quite some time."

Before anything else could be said Masaki stood and rounded the table at a speed that could have been considered a shunpo. Before Ichigo registered what was happening she was on her knees in front of him. She pulled him into an embrace. Ichigo froze in shock. It had been a long time since anyone had hugged him like that. He was not used to being the one being comforted. Hesitantly he hugged her back.

"You okay," Masaki asked her son.

Ichigo nodded unable to speak. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, and he almost started crying. Masaki lifted him up and sat him on her hip. Ichigo did not protest the action. It was all he could do just to control himself. She made her way back to her seat at the table and situated him on her lap. With Ichigo technically being a young man this made him somewhat uncomfortable. He sat stiffly hoping this would be over soon.

Urahara was staring at him openly, and his father was sipping at his tea with a thoughtful frown on his face.

Urahara broke the silence. "Kurosaki-kun, your parents and I have been talking since you fell asleep. I have my own theories, but it would probably be best to hear your side of the story."

Ichigo blinked at the man. He was damned if he was going to poor out his soul in front of this man. Besides, Urahara was so smart he had probably already figured it out.

"You know that I am an inventor, correct?" He went on when Ichigo did not take the the bait and start talking.

"Yes," Ichigo said after a long moment. He stared at the blond until he started to sweat.

"I have a theory as to how you could possibly know that." Urahara licked his lips slightly nervous. "There is a device that I have that could, if it worked, explain your recent behavior and knowledge."

Ichigo thought carefully for a moment about how manipulative he knew Urahara was before answering. "The last thing I saw before a bright flash of light was you throwing something at me." He said carefully.

"Mm, did it look like this?" Urahara reached into his haori and pulled something out. He sat what looked like a palm sized crystal ball that you see fortune tellers use on the table. It even had a smoky center that flashed periodically.

Ichigo glanced at it. "Yeah, that's it."

"Really?" Urahara asked unsuitably interested in the answer given the current situation. "If it had even worked you would have only had a split second to see it."

Ichigo stared at him some more.

"Anyway," Urahara continued sensing yet another dead end to the conversation. "As I was explaining to your parents before you woke, which you have just confirmed, you are from the future."

Ichigo looked down at his too small hands, "Sort of." he conceded.

Urahara smile in that mysterious way that Ichigo had learned to dread. "Well it was only meant to send a soul back not a living body."

"How far into the future are you from?" His father blurted.

Ichigo puffed out his cheeks. "Nine years." He said.

They all stared at him. "Nine..." He heard his mother whisper.

"Only eighteen and you are already dead and achieved shikai?" Isshin said voice raising in pitched. He coughed uncomfortably after his voice cracked. It shouldn't be possible for such a thing to happen.

"I am kind of a special case." He said as his mother's arms tightened around him.

"Special case?" Urahara asked interest peeked once again.

"Yes," Ichigo said waving his arms. "I am still in my body, so sort of ... not dead?" He scratched his head not really knowing how to explain the circumstances he had lived with for the last three years.

"What are you talking about?" Masaki growled.

Ichigo froze in shock. His mother had growled? He could not for the life of him remember a time when his wonderful smiling mother had growled. Isshin was sweating and even Urahara looked uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Ah, honey," Isshin said rubbing the back of his head nervously. "You see, our sweet baby boy was very single minded about getting his zanpakuto back."

Masaki pinned her very brave and very stupid husband with a withering glare. "And this leads you to believe that my son is dead, how?" She said voice dripping venom. Her arms tightened painfully around Ichigo. He squirmed, and Masaki immediately loosed her hold, but did not let him go.

Ichigo sighed as soon as he was able to breath and answered the question for his petrified father.

"I had Urahara remove my soul from my body and cut my chain of fate."

"What!?" Masaki shrieked causing Ichigo to go momentarily deaf. She rounded on Urahara reaching across the table and grabbing him by the collar. Ichigo was pushed painfully into the edge of the table, but was ignored by the woman intent on choking Urahara to death. "You said you did not want to hurt my son." She snapped twisting the fabric in her hand. Urahara struggled trying to regain his balance from the surprise attack. Ichigo noted that the man looked as if he wanted to flee or simply breathe.

"Mom, it's alright." Ichigo wheezed. "I've done this before."

Masaki let go of Urahara and fell back into her chair. Everyone was looking at him in surprise. "From the future remember?" He glared at Urahara and rubbed his side where it had been shoved into the table. "We need to talk."

"You say that as if we wont be there." Isshin said. "And you are the one who said he was at least partially responsible for the hollow attack on Masaki, your mother. Why are you willing to trust him?"

"I don't trust him, not now. I did before..." He looked Urahara in the eyes. "You helped me out when I needed it the most."

Urahara blinked in confusion before pulling down his hat once more to shade his eyes. _Must kill hat._ Ichigo thought vindictively. He really hated that thing.

"When I saw you standing with Aizen in the King's Realm-"

"We were in the King's Realm?" Urahara demanded.

Ichigo over road him. "I want to know why; why him?"

"But the King's Realm-" Urahara pouted. The man actually had the gall to pout.

"I have no intention of telling you of future events," Ichigo snapped. "Why?"

"I do what I do for the good of the Soul Society."

"You don't do anything without a personal reason."

Urahara shrugged. "You wont tell me about the future, and I will not give you my reasons. Let's just stick with what we are trying to change, hmm." He tapped his fan on the table decisively.

"Fine," Ichigo said. "Just tell me when you feel I need to know. But really, you are working with Aizen. How do you know he isn't lying to you?"

"Pardon?" Urahara asked piercing Ichigo with his eyes.

"Aizen's zanpakuto is an illusion type and more than capable of making you believe anything he wants you to."

Urahara frowned at the extent of the boy's information. How well had he known each of them, anyway? If Urahara had doubted his time travel theory before, he did not now. That young face did not match the level of knowledge the boy possessed. To know Kyoka Suigetsu's true nature...

"Aizen has a way of immunizing people to his illusions. You can still see them of course, but they are translucent and easily identifiable." Urahara answered breezily.

Ichigo scowled. Urahara had given that information up way to easily. "Liar," Ichigo said with an air of confidence.

Urahara shrugged unrepentant. "His hypnosis wont work on me in any case." he paused considering for a moment. "Though if there is anything I can do to help you, Ichigo-kun, let me know. We will work something out."

"That's enough," Isshin said standing abruptly. It had been difficult for him to sit and watch his son verbally spar with another ex-captain centuries older than he was. "We don't need anything. We are a normal, human, family as far as the Shinigami are concerned. Let's go." Masaki stood with him. Each parent grabbed one of Ichigo's hands and lead him toward the front of the shop. "I don't want you anywhere near my family, Urahara." Isshin threw over his shoulder. Hustling his wife and son out the door. "Stay away."

"Ma Kurosaki-san," Urahara called after them. "Your son is already much too powerful to hide, and in your current state you cannot protect him or your family from those who will come after him."

Isshin glared at the man.

"He's right," Ichigo said softly. "They will come after me eventually."

"We will talk again later once everyone has cooled down." Urahara said.

Before Isshin could reply Ichigo jumped in. "Yes, we will."

Isshin looked back and forth between the two at a complete loss as to what to do. In one day his happy little family had been torn apart. This Ichigo was so cold and distant, constantly frowning. That was not the little happy boy he knew. As he and his wife and son started to walk home he felt a small tug on his hand where it was wrapped around his son's. "I'm sorry." The boy said in a small voice looking at the ground. Inside his chest he felt his heart break.

2

Ichigo clung to his mother as he watched his father thank the elderly woman he vaguely remembered used to watch his sisters and him if both of their parents had to go somewhere. Evidently Karin and Yuzu had been put down for an afternoon nap and had not woken as yet.

"Are you hungry, sweetie?" Masaki asked brushing back his hair with her hand. He leaned unconsciously into the touch. Unable to speak, he just nodded his head. By his estimate he had not eaten anything in at least a day. He was famished. He gratefully sat at the table dangling his off the edge of the chair. Having to hop up into the chair did dampen his mood a bit though. Both of his parents shared a significant look at the near perpetual frown their son had gained since the hollow incident.

Once his mother sat a plate of rice balls out that had been in the fridge, she and Isshin sat across from their son, so that they could better observe him. Ichigo stopped woofing down the rice balls well aware of what the two wanted to know.

"Your father explained what happened with the hollow." His mother began. "I assume it is safe to say that Urahara-san did not help us the first time?"

Ichigo forced down the rice in his throat and nodded numbly. He had hoped to not have to talk about this part. He gazed steadily at the table and cursed himself for the tears he could not stop from running down his face. "You died," He said barely above a whisper.

His mother was kneeling beside his chair, arms wrapped around him once more before he registered what was happening. "It's okay, baby; I'm here." Ichigo cried. His mother held him tightly and looked at her husband.

Isshin had no answers for her. It did explain Ichigo's sudden change in behavior though. The scowling face, the closed off behavior, all the things a young man with a loving family should not be expressing. Isshin wondered for a moment what he would do if Masaki had died yesterday. All he could think was that he was glad that he did not have to find out. It made him feel guilty that his son had indeed experienced that loss.

Ichigo sniffed loudly and pulled back from his mother. His eyes were puffy and tear streaks trailed down his cheeks. He also, for some reason neither parent could fathom looked angry with himself. "They want to come out." He said suddenly.

"Who does?" Masaki asked confused.

Isshin wasn't confused, though he was surprised that Ichigo could keep an open channel to his zanpakuto even in an emotionally distressed state. Isshin himself had never been nearly as close to Engestu.

"Zangetsu," Ichigo answered. The two spirits that Isshin remembered from Urahara's basement materialized behind Ichigo's chair. Masaki jumped back surprised. She stared at them wide eyed, obviously sensing the reiatsu the two individual spirits emanated. The younger of the two flashed a wide smile that would scare small children, and the older nodded in greeting.

Masaki whipped around to face Isshin. "Is this normal?"

"No Isshin answered plainly. "He shouldn't be able to manifest them." He blatantly ignored her real question. "It's a part of learning bankai. Manifesting your zanpakuto spirit outside your inner world is a test of spiritual strength and knowledge of self. You are this close to learning bankai?" he asked his son.

"I already have bankai."

Both Isshin and Masaki gaped at him. The hollow giggled. "Ya know Aibou, ya may wanna learn ta drop th' big ones with a bit more subtly."

Ichigo took the time to stick his tongue out at the hollow. Shiro giggled some more while Ossan shook his head in exasperation.

"Why did they want to come out?" Masaki asked faintly trying to keep the conversation going. Part of her wanted to be a good hostess to the two strange beings in her kitchen, but the larger part of her wanted to start screaming for the world to make sense again.

"Ossan hates the rain, and Shiro probably just wanted to tag along."

"Rain?"

"I- it rains in my inner world when I am sad."

"Oh, well, why don't you introduce us then?" Masaki prompted

"Ichigo blushed at the subtle reprimand for not performing proper introductions. He cleared his throat. "Mom, dad, this is Zangetsu." He pointed at the Quincy. "I call him Ossan and that's Shiro." His finger moved to the hollow.

"Pleasure to meet you." Ossan said with a short bow.

"Hi," Shiro said. Ichigo eyed his suspiciously well behaved zanpakuto.

"Hello," Masaki said with a warm smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"Hello," Isshin coughed. He had never been introduced to a zanpakuto spirit before. The blades plenty of times of course but never the spirits themselves. Usually shinigami kept their zanpakuto abilities a secret and never ever introduced the spirit to anyone. And Ichigo's spirits revealed so much about him and his heritage, too much really. He would have to caution Ichigo about that. His wife, completely oblivious to the significance of this situation invited the two to sit at the table. Shiro accepted the seat next to Ichigo, but the other zanpakuto spirit declined and chose to stand behind his son like some dark guardian or a devil ready to consume his soul. It was a disturbing thought that between the two it wasn't the hollow that made his hair stand on end.

Surprisingly Shiro nudged the plate of forgotten food closer to their son in an unsubtle command to eat. Ichigo frowned at Shiro and the hollow glared back. Ichigo huffed and began to eat once more.

"So a hollow and a Quincy zanpakuto?" Masaki asked.

Ichigo blushed uncertainly. He knew his mother was trying to understand more about him and reconnect with him but opening up had never been one of his strong points. "Yeah." he said and went back to eating.

"Son," Isshin began deciding that now was as good a time as any. "You do know that you shouldn't be manifesting your zanpakuto spirits on a whim. Especially those two." Shiro and Ossan frowned at the implications.

Ichigo went still for a moment before answering. "Yes, I do. And Zangestu does agree with you on that point. Ossan almost never manifests unless it is necessary, and unless we are alone Shiro wont manifest either."

"So this is necessary?" Isshin asked.

"I hate the rain." Ossan said voice flat and emotionless.

"Yes it is." Ichigo elaborated. "Besides both of them are fine with manifesting with you two around."

Masaki smiled at her son. She was happy that he still trusted them that much. "They are the reason you chose to die?"

"I can't live without them." Ichigo said very quietly. "But there are many reasons I cannot live a normal life." He looked at Isshin determined. "I will be going back to Urahara's."

"No," Isshin said instantly.

"It's not up for discussion Goat-face."

"Don't call your father that, Ichigo." His mother interrupted sternly. "Where do you even come up with a name like that?"

Ichigo blinked and examined his _clean shaven_ father. "Eh... well in the future he has a goatee." He said embarrassed. He had been calling Isshin Goat-face on reflex.

Masaki raised an eyebrow at her son, and tried real hard to fight a smile and remain stern. "Well, he is your father regardless and you will show him respect." She turned to Isshin making sure her back was to Ichigo before mouthing triumphantly: _two to one. _They had had the argument over him growing a goatee just the other day. Isshin grunted in acknowledgment.

Ichigo was oblivious to this as he tried to figure out how to react to the idea. His first impulse was to say he would call Isshin whatever he damn well wanted to. He was eighteen years old and had fought in two wars. On the other hand, this was his mother. Masaki had long ago reached a state of godhood as far as her family was concerned. He turned to his zanpakuto for support. Shiro was no help as he was trying extra hard not to burst into laughter and probably point at him. Ossan had a look on his face that clearly said: 'listen to your mother.'

"Fine," Ichigo gave in gracelessly. "But I meant what I said."

"Ichigo," Masaki warned her son.

Puffing out his cheeks and ignoring the fact that Shiro was practically vibrating in his seat with silent laughter, Ichigo rephrased his earlier statement. "Tou-san, I will need to go back to Urahara's."

"Why do you need to associate with that man so badly?" Isshin demanded of his son.

Ichigo chewed on his lip. He did not want to explain his relationship with Urahara with his mother present. He could care less what his father thought of him, but he did not want his mother to think badly of him. And so much of what happened over the last few years looks bad at first glance.

"He is the only one in the world of the living, maybe anywhere at all, that can get me what I need, and he has a place where I can train. Zangestu wont have me going soft just because I'm nine again."

Masaki opened her mouth to say something when suddenly, both Zangestu spirits jerked up and looked at the stairs. They faded away re-entering Ichigo's inner world.

"Mommy, daddy, who you talking to?" Karin asked coming into the kitchen. Yuzu followed hand firmly grasped by her sister's.

It was Ichigo's turn to be shocked. Both of his little sisters were... well, little.

"Hey, girls," Masaki said going over to her daughters and giving each a big hug.

"I will be going back...tou-san." Ichigo whispered eyes never leaving the two little girls. The Karin and Yuzu that he knew were so different from these two.

Isshin stood up from the table and put his hand on Ichigo's shoulder. He bent down so that only Ichigo would hear him. "You may be older than you look now, but you re still my son. It is my job to protect you. Let me do my job."

Ichigo surprised them both with his response. He wrapped his arms around his dad in a hug. "I wish I could." was the whispered response. Isshin frowned as Ichigo let go and jumped off his chair to go see his sisters.

3

Later that night Ichigo lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, trying to process everything that had happened that day. His room was much the same it had been when he was a teenager. The only differences were the toys strewn across the floor and the colorful anime posters on his walls. He felt a gentle brush against his consciousness. Zangetsu wanted to talk. He did not feel as if he could enter his inner world in his current state so he pulled them into his room. He sat up and both spirits sat to either side of him on the bed.

"Has it stopped raining at least?" Ichigo asked just to break the silence. He knew he had not been in any state that would make living in his inner world comfortable since they were sent back and felt guilty about it.

"Yes, it has." Ossan said. "Ichigo, We need to plan how to proceed from here. I see that it will be an uphill battle to do as you wish with your father trying to interfere."

"What do you mean dad? Mom is the terrifying one." Shiro said with a snort.

"I don't remember any of that." Ichigo said. "Her being so aggressive, I mean. I'm not going to get between her and anyone she wants to kill ever again." He glanced at Shiro. "You were being surprisingly good tonight."

Shiro shrugged. "I don't want her mad at me either, and well, She kinda is my mom too..." He trailed off looking at his feet.

Ichigo smiled in understanding. "You were trying to make a good impression." His hollow hunkered down and grumbled under his breath clearly embarrassed.

"Anyway," Shiro said loudly changing the subject. "What 're we gonna do?"

"Stop Aizen for one." Ichigo said firmly.

"Easier said than done, Aibou." Shiro said.

"We may be from the future, but we have already made waves. Everything we know is probably useless at this point. Once he finds out you are not an ignorant child, he may not go forward with his original plan."

"So we kill them both?"

"I bet Urahara is trying to contact Aizen as we speak." Ichigo said ignoring Shiro's default plan for everything.

"I believe so," Ossan said. "We must prepare and attempt to find out what his plans will be from here on."

"Much the same. I doubt he will completely scrap the arrancar. He and Urahara may be working together, but Aizen wants power, and he doesn't seem like the sharing type." Ichigo said.

"Are ya sure of that?" Shiro asked.

"I am sure that if he isn't already at that point he will be." Ichigo answered. We have to destroy the Hougyoku." Ichigo decided. "Whatever plans either of them have we can't let Aizen get a hold of it again."

"Great plan, but how are you going to destroy the Over-powered Marble of Doom?" Shiro crossed his arms.

"Just me?"

"I got nothin'" Shiro admitted. "It's got a crazy amount of reiryoku in it."

Ossan shifted his position on the bed drawing the attention of the other two. "Ichigo, if you wish to destroy the Hougyoku, then it is time for you to learn how to use more of your Quincy powers." The older man's mouth twisted oddly. "Besides, the unconscious use of Blut Vein."

"Huh?" Ichigo blinked dumbstruck. "I can use more Quincy abilities?"

Ossan grunted. "I speak of the basic reishi gathering technique every Quincy learns to create their weapons. You will merely be doing it on a much larger scale. And you will have to learn to draw only from a specific source."

"The Hougyoku." Ichigo said suddenly getting what Ossan was trying to say.

"Yes, you used Mugestsu the first time and the Hougyoku drained itself trying to keep Aizen alive. It's power is great but finite. If you use your Quincy powers to draw off that energy and use us to discharge it-"

"Um, safely?" Ichigo interrupted.

"We just have to make sure that no one is standing in the way." Shiro said grunting. Then he grinned. "But anything in the way will most likely be incinerated." Ichigo rolled his eyes. Leave it to the hollow to find the destructive lining in every cloud.

"Fine, lots more work for me. But that still leaves Urahara's part in all of this. What does he want?"

"To screw with everyone." Shiro answered promptly.

Ichigo scowled at him. Shiro was just so helpful sometimes. "First things first though: destroy the Hougyoku."

"Another reason to go back to Urahara's." Shiro pointed out, bringing them back to their original problem. "Your parents are going to tie ya up before letten' ya go back."

Ichigo yawned. "Then I guess I'm a bit of a problem child." he said. He had every intention of sneaking out his window if he needed to. He yawned again. "I'm going to bed." He announced. "Stay with me?" He asked Shiro.

"Awww. Little King afraid of the dark?"

"Bastard, I just don't want to be alone right now."

Shiro lay down and curled around Ichigo. "G'night Ossan." Ichigo said. Drifting off.

"Good night, Ichigo." The spirit replied before disappearing back into his inner world.


	3. Chapter 3

1

The next morning Ichigo was jerked awake by a woman's scream. Before he was even fully aware of his surroundings, he had rolled out of bed into a fighting stance. His eyes darted around the room trying to assess where the danger was.

"It's just mom, Aibou." Shiro mumbled at him from where he was still curled up on the bed. Indeed, Masaki had come into her son's room and was standing at the door with eyes wide and her hand over her mouth. It took Ichigo a moment longer to clear the dregs of sleep from his brain and realize that she was reacting to seeing Shiro in his bed.

"Wait don't-" He said standing up to his full height. "Don't freak out." He pleaded. Seeing the two of them must have given her quite a shock.

Shiro sat up calmly and yawned. He looked between Ichigo and his mother. He then shrugged at Ichigo and disappeared. "Thanks." Ichigo said statistically to the empty spot where Shiro had been. He wondered how he was going to explain this. "Um, I got lonely?" He said as if questioning himself.

His mother frowned at him for a moment before letting the subject drop. "Breakfast is ready." She said tersely.

"No, really that's all it was." Ichigo said grabbing her skirt, trying to make her understand the gut wrenching loneliness he had felt when he had sacrificed his powers to stop Aizen. He had never wanted to feel that again. When he had woken in the past and realized that he could not reach the two spirits, _again_; he had lost all rational thought. He had to have them back.

Masaki's eyes softened. She knelt down and gave Ichigo a hug. Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. After a moment she pulled back. "You should get dressed. You have school today."

Ichigo's relief turned instantly to horror. "School?" he asked.

"Yes, school, just like everyday."

"I can't go to school." Ichigo said- almost wailed to Shiro's glee. The hollow zanpakuto spirit sill loved to torture his Ichigo on occasion. Ichigo was remembering the nightmare that was elementary school. He had been picked on constantly by the other children because of his bright-colored hair and his name. He had also been a bit of a crybaby much to his chagrin, especially after his mother's death. Some of the meaner bullies took pleasure in mentioning her death just to make him cry. This had gone on until he had begun systemically beating the crap out of them.

Masaki crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at him. Ichigo was beginning to realize that he was not going to win this argument. His mother would not be moved from her current position on the subject. "You will be going to school." was all she said, but it had a ring of finality to it.

But let it be said that Ichigo was not one to give up easily. "I have already been to school once, finished too... almost. Ichigo said mulishly. "It would be a complete waste of time. I even passed everything."

"I wont believe that unless you have the records." She had him there. Those records didn't even exist anymore. "And if you passed once, it shouldn't be that hard to do so again. School is important for your future."

"Not if I join the Gotei 13." Ichigo tried to reason.

The glare he got for that statement made him want to crawl under his bed and hide. His mother was scary when she was mad, Unohana scary.

Masaki looked her son dead in the eye. "You will go to school, you will _live_, your life in the _living _ world, and any plans you have for being a Shinigami can wait until you are dead. Now get dressed." She swept out of the room to prepare the table for breakfast.

Ichigo could only stare after his mother with his mouth hanging open. He really had never pictured his mother like this. She had always been smiling and caring and gentle. His thoughts continued in this vein until he was jolted back to the present by his father's voice. "Tried to argue with her, didn't you?" He asked grinning at Ichigo's expression. "First time for everything, I suppose. And here I thought you were so smart for always going along with everything she wanted you to do."

Ichigo sighed. "I guess so. But I grew up, changed." He shook his head. "I have never seen her like that before. When she tried to strangle Urahara..."

"She was trying to protect you. It's a parent's job to protect their children," Isshin said. "She is still trying to protect you. I assume you know about the Quincy's?"

Ichigo nodded.

"Well, they are or were a really close knit group. They protected each other, more so after the extermination order. The thought of you being around a bunch of Shinigami scares her. The Quincys of her generation were taught to stay as far away from Shinigami as they could." Isshin looked at Ichigo for a moment. "You better get dressed. If you are late we are both going to get it." He turned and left the room. Ichigo could hear him descend the stairs, each step echoing in the hall, even though Ichigo knew Isshin could move as quietly as a cat if he chose to.

Ichigo mulled over his eventful morning and what his father had said while he pulled out his school uniform to get dressed. He grimaced when he saw it. He had hated the things the first time around, and his feelings had not changed. The suit was just as horrid as he remembered it being. Grey short pants and vest over a white, short sleeve button-up shirt, and a navy blue tie.

After donning the wretched uniform he was reminded of how uncomfortable they were as well. Ichigo made his way downstairs where everyone was waiting for breakfast. He tugged at his shorts for what seemed the hundredth time to make them seem longer and hopped up into his chair. This was ridiculous. He felt like a fool.

His mother reached over and ran her fingers through his hair trying to get it to lay flat. Ichigo knew from experience it wouldn't, so he hadn't even bothered to comb it. He still leaned into the touch though. " What's wrong with you now?" She asked trying not to laugh Ichigo's behavior.

"This is humiliating." Ichigo chewed ruthlessly on his toast. He was not in a good mood. This had officially started off as a bad day.

"From bouncing baby boy to surly teenager in literally one night." Isshin quipped. "Our darling son is all grown up."

"Ha-ha," Masaki's laugh interrupted what would have been a retaliatory fist to Isshin's face. There was no telling what would happen if he should actually attack his father at the breakfast table with Masaki around. "Would it be too humiliating for you, if I walked you to school today?" She asked with a smile.

"No" Ichigo answered quickly jumping at the chance to spend even a little bit of time with his mother. "I would probably end up at the high school anyway if I went by myself." He added to cover for the sudden eagerness in his voice. He paused for a moment before deciding to try being diplomatic and asking first. "May I go to Urahara's after school?"

Masaki quirked an eyebrow at him not fooled at all. Isshin grunted but remained silent. In fact, Isshin had been rather subdued ever since Ichigo had been sent back into the past. Ichigo briefly entertained the thought of Masaki's death had made his father come completely unhinged.

"Alright," Masaki said finally. Ichigo blinked at her in surprised. "On one condition." Ichigo cringed Knowing he was not going to like where this was going. "You have to go to school, everyday. If you miss once, no more." He deflated at her words. He had wanted to try to spend all the time he could training. Now to train at all he would have to spend at least half that time at school. "You will also have to keep your grades up." She added.

Ichigo ducked his head and nodded. "Alright." He said in defeat.

"I will be going with you." Isshin said. "I don't trust you alone with that man."

Ichigo looked between both his parents for a moment. This was probably the best offer he was going to get. And unless he wanted to try his hand at being a real delinquent instead of the pretend one he had been, he had better accept it. "I can live with that."

2

School had gone pretty much as Ichigo had expected. Scowl firmly in place, he stormed out of the front gates of the school and thrust a piece of paper up into Isshin's face.

Isshin frowned when he saw the scowl. It looked much more annoyed than it had previously. He grabbed the paper curiously. What could have happened already? He read the note.

"What does this mean? Why did you beat up four of your class mates?" Isshin yelled jumping up and down and pulling on his hair comically. People were starting to stare. Ichigo started them walking with the intent to get them off the street before Isshin did something unforgivable.

"They were picking on me." Ichigo said shortly.

"But," Isshin searched for words. "We told you to ignore them, just last week." Isshin trailed off. Would Ichigo even remember that now?

"Tried that. It didn't work."

"Your mother is going to kill me."

"Kill _you_?" Ichigo asked confused. It seemed to him that he would be the one in trouble as soon as they got home.

"You do realize that your mother blames me completely for your bad behavior."

"Good."

"Ichigo," Isshin whined large crocodile tears in his eyes.

Before he could stop himself Ichigo smiled slightly. This was the idiot father he remembered. Somehow he felt better with his father acting like a fool. "How could she blame you for something I did anyway?"

"Well, from what I can tell, she thinks I should die first this time as I obviously don't know how to raise children."

Ichigo laughed at that. They walked on in silence for awhile. As they drew closer to Urahara's shop, Isshin's idiot act had begun to wear thin. He was still crying and begging Ichigo be a good little boy at school for his mother's sake. The sad thing was that it would have worked if Isshin had left it at 'for his mother's sake'. In spite of how annoying Isshin was Ichigo slowed down to prolong the walk. He had to talk to his father at some point, now was as good a time as any.

"Look tou-san," he began using the address his mother insisted he use. "We both know I'm not the little boy you are familiar with." Isshin dropped his idiot act abruptly and watched his son stare at the sidewalk in front of him. "There are things that I will have to do, and no matter what it seems like, I know what I am doing."

Isshin nodded thoughtfully. "I am sorry son, this is hard to get used to. I thought we still had a few years before you became a man."

"Don't say it like that!" Ichigo yelled catching the attention of several other people on the street. His face turned bright red.

Isshin laughed at him. "You may be eighteen in your head, but you still look like my little Ichigo. Don't be surprised if you get babied."

Ichigo grumbled about crazy old men and their eccentric sense of humor. He stopped outside the shop. He looked around wondering briefly where Ururu and Jinta were. Usually one or the other, and often both were outside to greet him when he arrived.

"Are you sure you want to do this, son?" Isshin asked misinterpreting Ichigo's pause. "We can still go back home, and you can live a normal life with your mother ans sisters."

"Don't tempt me, Goat-face." The switch in address did not go unnoticed by Isshin. He was sure that if he pressed the issue he could pry his son out of whatever hold Urahara had on him. "Maybe you should think about it. Give it a few days before making a decision." Isshin pressed.

Ichigo shook his head. Isshin could see the determination in his son's eyes. "I have to do this. Nothing is going to make me change my mind." With that Ichigo marched up to the door and slipped inside. He blinked his eyes trying to adjust to the dim light compared to the sunny day outside. Urahara was sitting behind the counter. He actually looked surprised to see Ichigo there.

Urahara stood as Isshin came into the shop on Ichigo's heels. "So you managed to convince your dad to let you come back."

Ichigo studied Isshin for a moment, suddenly curious. "Why did you agree all of a sudden anyway?"

Isshin looked down at his son incredulously. He really hadn't thought to wonder why? Maybe Ichigo needed closer supervision than he thought he did. "Your mother said you were too determined to do this and would probably resort to something drastic if I our right forbid it.

"So, kaa-san told you to." Ichigo said bluntly.

"Yeah," Isshin said with a small laugh clearly embarrassed.

Ichigo thought about that for a moment. He remembered his words to his zanpakuto the night before; how he would sneak out his bedroom window if he had to. Even with a completely different personality from what Masaki was used to from her little boy, she knew him best. Ichigo felt warm and dare he say happy every time he thought about her being alive. He may not know why he was here in the past but that alone made it worth it. "She is right." He confirmed for his father.

"Eh?" Isshin said eyes wide. He had not thought his son would disobey him, especially if it were over something important.

Urahara smiled behind his fan. "I am so glad you hold me in such high regard that you would do anything to be near me." He said fluttering the fan.

Ichigo scowled at him. "Someone has to watch you."

"My my, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' as they say in the West, right Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo didn't answer, just stared at him levelly.

"So what does the wonderful Kurosaki-kun want with a humble shop keeper?" Urahara asked unperturbed by the lack of an answer.

Isshin glared at the man. "I don't like you talking to my son like that, Urahara-san."

It's alright tou-san. That's just the way he is." Ichigo said drawing their attention back to him. "If he had to talk like a normal person, he would probably strain himself." He looked up at Urahara. "I want to use your basement to train, and I will also require a gikongan."

Urahara raised hie brow. "An you expect these services for free?"

"Let's just call it payback for screwing with my life."

"Hm. You seem to be at a disadvantage in your negotiations, Kurosaki-kun." Urahara came around the counter cane in hand. Ichigo tensed, ready for a fight. He knew for a fact that that was not an innocent cane. "What could you possibly do to me?"

Isshin stepped in front of Ichigo prepared to defend him if necessary. He probably couldn't do much to an ex-captain who had all of his power, but he was sure as hell going to try.

Suddenly there were two more people in the room. Both Shiro and Ossan had materialized behind Ichigo. Only this time the hollow was holding a large white Khyber knife over his shoulder, and the Quincy had a matching trench knife drawn and ready.

"Give me a reason, Geta-boushi." Shiro practically purred, excited by the possibility of an all out fight. He was obviously hoping Urahara would push the issue.

Urahara and Isshin both sweat-dropped. Urahara was wondering if the zanpakuto spirits were powerful enough to actually kill him. Isshin was busy contemplating his son's obvious future as a Yakuza boss shaking down innocent shop keepers -not Urahara of course- with the help of his zanpakuto spirits in the place of the usual goons. He silently thanked Kami-sama that Masaki was still alive and able to prevent their little Ichigo from descending into a life of crime.

"On the other hand, Kurosaki-kun," Urahara said coming to a quick decision. He studied the zanpakuto spirits intently. As long as the boy was willing to bring them out he wanted to learn everything he could about them and their power. He was curious as to what such a unique blade actually did. "I would be glad to loan you my training facilities."

The hollow actually pouted when Urahara suddenly agreed. Urahara forced the smile on his face to stay in place, even though he was sweating. That thing was a little too eager to shed blood. "Fine," Ichigo said shortly.

Urahara reach behind the counter and pulled out a gikongan dispenser. He held it out to Ichigo who looked at it incredulously. It was Chappy the Rabbit. "come on Kurosaki-kun, I thought every child your age liked Chappy." Ichigo just growled and snatched the dispenser. He could not wait to grow up again.

Ichigo did not wait for the two adults and made his way unerringly to the back of the shop where the trap door to the basement was located and tried not to hear Urahara laughing from somewhere behind him. Even in the past he could not get away from the man's hobby of embarrassing him.

He opened the door and looked down into darkness. He climbed down wishing he could still take it in one leap, but in his younger body did not want to take the chance that he might break his legs if he tried. At the bottom of the ladder he stopped and look around. He spotted a relatively flat rock off to the side near the entrance and headed over to it.

He popped the gikongan into his mouth and separated from his body. He turned around to the mod soul to see it standing at attention if bouncing slightly. He studied it carefully. If this one turned out to be sentient he was going to have Shiro kick Urahara's ass into the next town. After studying it for a moment taking in his painfully younger face. Even he had to admit he used to be disturbingly cute.

Once he was sure that the mod soul was not going to run off with his body he addressed it. "Chappy, I need you to stay here with my dad." He pointed at Isshin who had walked up. Chappy looked at Isshin and nodded. "And don't do anything Geta-boushi says." He added for good measure gesturing at Urahara. Better safe than sorry.

"Aye sir," the annoying rabbit said saluting. Ichigo twitched at the sight of the insanely stupid smile on his own face. He nodded and walked out to the open area of the training ground.

"I'm assuming you will be practicing some katas to build up your strength?" Isshin asked curious as to what kind of instruction his son had had. He would assume Ukitake-taicho would have instructed Ichigo, or Kyouraku-taichio if he was not feeling to lazy. Both wielded dual blades of one type or another and were obvious choices for instructing a new dual blade wielder.

"Don't know any." Ichigo called back absently.

Isshin blinked in surprise. He had assumed from what his son had told him that he had been formally trained. At the very least he should know some basic katas for zanjutsu. He watched as Ichigo drew his blades. Much more smoothly than any nine-year-old should be able to. In front of him, a few meters away, the hollow half of his zanpakuto materialized once more. Only this time he was holding both blades. Isshin got an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Interesting," Urahara said from where he had settled down cross-legged next to Isshin. He held his closed fan to his chin and seemed deep in thought. "He trains only with his zanpakuto spirit? Or is that merely where the bulk of his instruction comes from?"

"Don't you have a shop to run?" Isshin asked eying the shopkeeper distrustfully. "And what exactly do you mean by that?" He could not help adding. Urahara was a genius after all. Maybe he could shed some light on the young man his son had become.

"I told Tessai to take over for awhile." the blond said with a shrug. "I would not miss this for the world." He answered earnestly ignoring Isshin's distrustful look. "And as to what I mean, there are very few reasons to not be formally instructed in zanjutsu as a Shinigami. It is completely feasible, if not likely, that your son has learned all or most of his fighting skills in the midst of battle."

Isshin frowned at that as he watched his son and Shiro face off against each other. Their stances mirror opposites. What had the future been like that he had willingly allowed Ichigo to be put in that position.

"No real duals until I can wield your monstrous blade more easily. I want to actually be able to block you before we go all out." Ichigo informed Shiro. The blade spirit sighed obviously feeling put upon.

"It's gonna be slow goin' if I 'ave ta baby ya, Aibou." Shiro threw back. The statement sounded like a challenge in and of itself.

"I'm half the size I'm supposed to be and not nearly as strong. If you use half your real strength you are going to kill me." Ichigo reasoned. "Then where would we be."

"Fine then," Shiro snapped. "Let's whip you into shape, so we can have some real fun."

Isshin winced at the thought of what the hollow would consider 'real fun'. He wondered why the other half of the zanpakuto was allowing this. Zangetsu as a whole seemed to be pitiless. He felt his whole body spasm and barely kept himself from jumping between the two as the zanpakuto spirit launched toward his son at a speed he thought was way too fast for a young boy to block.

But Ichigo did block it. Blades clashed and Ichigo was thrown backward several meters. He shook out his arms which were tingling from the impact. Pitting strength against strength the way he usually did was not going to work. He heard Shiro snort. The hollow was not impressed with Ichigo's performance. Ichigo shot forward to take a swipe at Shiro's midsection. He was easily deflected with a flick of the trench knife.

It was obvious to everyone from the beginning that Ichigo had problems swinging the oversized Khyber knife. It tended to drag behind on attacks and blocks. Even sized as it was for his smaller body it was still the size and weight of a full length sword.

Ichigo found wielding the trench knife much easier, and so attacked with it more as a result. Shiro found this set up to be offensive to his sensibilities, and being the selfish being that he was, he would smack Ichigo upside the head with his own blade every time Ichigo would attempt an attack with the trench knife.

Ichigo got fed up with this real quick and growling began to attack Shiro's knees to keep him dancing back out of his shorter range. They traded blows for about ten minutes Ichigo was panting and sweating by the time Shiro stopped to observe him. Clearly they had their work cut out for themselves if they were going to increase Ichigo's endurance to where it had been before coming back.

"Man yer a puny little thing, ain't ya?" Shiro remarked. He wasn't even slightly winded.

"Shut- up," Ichigo panted annoyed at his own weakness.

"Wonderful, Kurosaki-kun," Urahara called cheerfully. He crossed the training ground to stand in front of Ichigo. "That was a good session." He clearly thought Ichigo would be quitting for the day.

Shiro glared at the man's back. "We ain't done yet." He snapped and grabbed Urahara by the back of his haori and threw him back over to where Isshin and Ichigo's body were still sitting. Urahara flew head long toward Isshin but somehow managed to catch himself before he crashed into the ground and landed gracefully. He turned to face Shiro with a look of surprise plastered across his face. "He ain't gonna grow any stronger if I go easy on 'em."

Shiro turned back to Ichigo. "Ready, Aibou?" Without waiting for an answer Shiro attacked again.

Both Isshin and Urahara were socked by the marked difference between this spar and the last. Before Ichigo had been attacking as if he were much taller. Now, he was crouched down more, lower to the ground. Shiro obviously wasn't used to attacking an opponent that was so much smaller than he was. Many of the zanpakuto spirit's attacks were too high, and he was struggling to counter a disproportionate amount of attacks aimed at his knees and ankles.

It was a complete turn around from the first bout. Isshin and Urahara blinked at each other. Neither had ever seen someone change tactics so fast. In the span of minutes Ichigo had changed his fighting style to be more suited to his new size. But his endurance did him in in the end. Shiro pulled back suddenly, just before Ichigo collapsed into the dirt breathing hard.

"Man, I suck." Ichigo said abruptly.

"Actually son, you are doing quite well." Isshin said from his place off to the side. He did not want to receive the same treatment Urahara had. He doubted he could land half as gracefully with his current level of reiatsu or lack there of. He would like to think Ichigo wouldn't let it happen, but obviously Shiro had no compunctions about causing bodily harm. Isshin also doubted the amount of control Ichigo had over the hollow. Whenever Isshin had seen him Shiro pretty much did whatever he wanted to.

"No, it's bad." Ichigo pointed the Khyber knife at Shiro. A conscious choice of blade in the hopes that he wouldn't get smacked with the flat of the mirror blade again. "He didn't even bother to draw blood."

Isshin bit back his immediate response to that in favor of keeping Ichigo's trust. But his imagination ran away from him with thoughts of blood flying everywhere and his son being ripped to shreds. He shivered. Masaki had to hear about this. Maybe she could convince Ichigo that training with his Zanpakuto spirit was not the best way to go.

During Isshin's introspection Ichigo had pulled himself to his feet. "Okay, I'm ready." he said.

"Uh, how much longer are you going to be at this?" Isshin asked snapping back to the present.

"I don't know," Ichigo answered scratching his head. "Couple of hours, maybe." He said with a shrug.

Isshin stared.

"I do have to work on my strength and endurance." Ichigo elaborated. He pointed at Shiro again. "It's a pain to have him go easy on me." With that Ichigo turned back to Shiro. Isshin shared another look with Urahara. The irony of being on the same page as the shopkeeper not lost on him.

Urahara went back to watching Ichigo fight with a thoughtful look on his face. "Kurosaki-san," he said as Ichigo collapsed into the dirt once more, unable to stand. "You can bring Ichigo-kun here as often as he wants."

Isshin frowned at him. The man was obviously up to something. "Why are you being so agreeable all of a sudden. You were ready to tell us to take a hike earlier, even though you already promised to help him."

"I promised to work out a deal with him." Urahara pulled his hat down further to cover his eyes. Isshin peered at him anyway trying to will the man's motive to be written on his face. "Kurosaki-san, I used a very valuable object to send him back to now. I was told it would only work once. The one I showed you and your family the other day is now useless."

"But you haven't used it yet?" Isshin asked confused.

Urahara smiled. "Evidently I have. Right now I am trying to fathom why I chose to send your son back. I have, in effect, out smarted myself. I am beginning to see why everyone thinks that is one of my most annoying traits. I have no clue as to why he was so important. "

Isshin blinked. "Wait, you said you were told. You did not invent that thing yourself?"

"Nope," Urahara said. "In fact, I don't even understand completely how it works."

Isshin gaped in surprise.

Urahara laughed. "I am flattered by your confidence in me though, Kurosaki-san." He smiled coyly from behind his fan.

All Isshin could do was splutter indignantly as he tried to wrap his mind around this new bit of information. Urahara turned back to observing Ichigo ignoring Isshin in favor of studying his newest puzzle.


	4. Chapter 4

1

It was a couple of more days before Ichigo made it back to the shop. Both of his parents absolutely refused to let him go alone and they discussed Masaki going in place of Isshin, who had to run the clinic. To both Ichigo's and Zangetsu's surprise Yuzu and Karin joined Masaki and Urahara in the basement while he spared. Such a big audience made Ichigo nervous. Shiro was nervous as well. The zanpakuto spirit was not good with people he was not allowed to kill.

Ichigo pushed that nervousness aside and began his work out. He needed to train his body to handle the physical and spiritual demands of his fighting style. The only down side to the process was that, for awhile at least, that would be all that he would be doing. Zangestu and he all agreed that they should not use their abilities in front of Urahara. There was always the thought that he would one day have to fight him. Urahara already knew the effects of hollowfication and the abilities that go with it. He could also make an educated guess about Quincy abilities. But Ichigo still thought it best to hide his true skill level. This kept the spars to the level of a strong fukutaicho. This left Ichigo frustrated on two fronts. He was stuck practicing his sword work alone, and to his chagrin, he found it to be more than a challenge for him.

During one of the short breaks between spars Yuzu came running up to him where he sat on the ground trying to ease the burning muscles in his arms.

"Wow, Onii-chan, that was amazing." Yuzu said dropping to he knees and hugging his neck.

He smiled at her. He was proud of himself for pushing himself up to twelve minutes between breaks. "Thanks, Yuzu."

Karin had run over to him as well, but she was more interested in Shiro. "Who is this Ichi-nii?" She asked eying Shiro suspiciously. He eyed her right back.

"Karin, don't be rude." Yuzu said bouncing up to Shiro. "Hello," She said politely. "I'm Ichigo's little sister, Yuzu. This is my sister Karin. We're twins."

Shiro looked at Ichigo uncertainly. He was really out of his depth when he couldn't attack someone. "Zangetsu." He responded shyly looking at the ground. "Your brother's zanpakuto."

Karin stepped up next to her sister. "What's a zanpakuto?"

By this time Masaki had come over to gather up her daughters. She smiled at the two girls. "Your father would have kittens if he heard that question from you." She said hugging them both close. Both girls laughed.

"Hey, where did he go?" Karin asked suddenly. Shiro had taken the opportunity to disappear.

_Coward. _Ichigo thought at his zanpakuto. His only response was a middle finger.

Ignoring Shiro, Ichigo smile at his sisters. He looked at his mother silently asking if it were alright to tell them the truth.

Masaki nodded her head. Well, if we are going to explain things, we will need to sit down." She said leading her children over to the flat rock Ichigo had staked out the first time he trained. Urahara sat waiting patiently on the rock not wanting a repeat of the other day.

Ichigo's body was up stairs in the guest room. Chappy had been given a stern order not to leave the room. Both Ichigo and his mother agreed that the twins should not see their older brother separate from his body. He had known for sure that Karin at least would have been able to see him. What had surprised him was that Yuzu could also clearly see he and his zanpakuto.

_You are much more powerful than you were even the last time you were in the living world. _Ossan said. _Remember I am no longer holding back the majority of your power. You are affecting people much faster than the last time._

Ichigo nodded his head absently at what his companion said. He sat and studied his sisters for a moment wondering where to start. How much could he tell them that they could understand? Ichigo privately felt that it should be his father explaining this. He looked at Urahara who returned the stare with a bland expression on his face. No help there.

"Well, the easy answer is that this," He gestured to his blades. "Is Zangetsu." Both girls looked skeptical. Karin scrunched up her face a pure disbelief etched in every line. "No really, he is." Ichigo defended himself.

"You expect us to believe that your sword turns into a person?" Karin said laughing at him.

"Not exactly," Ichigo said. "He is the blade." He tapped the Khyber knife for emphasis. "That's just his spirit form. I guess."

Urahara grunted.

"What?" Ichigo asked annoyed. If the man wasn't going to help him explain, he had no right complaining about how he went about it.

"Nothing Kurosaki-kun. You are correct as far as that explanation goes."

Ichigo grunted this time.

Masaki smiled at her son. "You don't know much more about zanpakuto than I do, do you?" She asked.

Ichigo scratched his head. It was a habit he had picked up from somewhere; he did it when he was nervous. "I will admit to having no formal education on the subject. I learned most of what I know because I had to, but I just accepted that Shiro and Ossan are my swords."

"There's two?' Karin asked. She was very interested in the swords.

"But where did he go?" Yuzu asked at the same time.

"Your brother has a spirit for each blade." Masaki said brushing back Karin's hair.

"You have seen them both?" She asked and Masaki nodded.

"But they are very shy, sweetheart."

There were twin snorts in Ichigo's head at that. Ichigo offered silently to let them out to prove his mother wrong, and so they could greet his sister's properly. They both declined. _I don't believe you two are afraid of four-year-olds. _

"But where did he go?" Yuzu repeated distracting Ichigo from his zanpakuto's combined indignation.

"Um, they live in my soul. They are a part of me." Ichigo said. You have never met them before, but they know you as well as I do."

Both girls stared at their brother. They stared for so long he was starting to wonder if they had understood what he had said.

"So," Karin said. "Can I have a zanpakuto too?"

Ichigo rubbed his forehead in frustration. "I give up. Ask your father."

Masaki laughed at him.

2

Later that night the whole family was sitting at the dinner table finishing up their meal. Each child had been warned by Masaki that they could not just out right ask their father about Shinigami. "He will just put on his silly daddy act and change the subject." She looked at her children conspiratorially. "You kids just hang around after dinner. Let me handle the rest."

Isshin was surprised that as plates were cleaned no one asked to be excused as was usual. Yuzu didn't even offer to help her mother clear the table and do the dishes. His third clue that something was going on was Masaki sitting back down at his side and leaving the dirty dishes in the sink. Masaki hated having dirty dishes in the sink. Isshin smelled a trap.

"Isshin, love," Masaki began. Isshin started to sweat. He knew he was not going to enjoy what was coming. "The girls had some questions today about Ichigo's zanpakuto. We , Ichigo and I, thought that it would be best for you to explain everything to the girls about Shinigami and hollows."

"But-but," Isshin gaped at his wife. "We were going to wait until they were older."

Masaki raised her eyebrow. "And you didn't think they would ask why there brother was fighting a young man completely dressed in white?"

"They can see them?" Isshin asked weakly.

"Yes dear, now tell them."

Ichigo was in awe of his mother at that moment. She was a master at Isshin herding.

"If it makes you feel any better. I know everything already." Ichigo chimed in. Having added his two cents to the conversation, he sat back to watch the show.

Isshin looked at the wide curious eyes of his two little girls. "Well girls." He began. "Before you were born daddy was a Shinigami." Both blinked at him blankly.

"What's a Shinigami?" Yuzu asked.

"A Shinigami is a spirit who leads the souls of the dead to the after life. We also purify bad spirits called hollows, so they wont hurt anyone."

Both girls turned to Ichigo for confirmation. He nodded. "It's true."

"Right," Karin said ever the skeptic. "So Shinigami are super powered ghosts who save good ghosts from bad ghosts."

"Yes," Isshin looked relieved that at least one of his daughters understood.

Ichigo had to give credit where it was due. Isshin's bad explanation would have went well with Rukia's bad drawings that he had been subjected to.

"It sounds like an anime." Yuzu said.

"But you and onii-chan aren't ghosts." Karin pointed out. "Are you?"

Yuzu was a bit more vocal. "Onii-chan's dead!?" She wailed. Both girls burst into tears.

Ichigo got out of his chair and pulled them into a hug. "I'm still here." He said, very carefully avoiding answering the question directly. "And I'm not going anywhere. Besides," He added, "Tou-san was a shinigami for years and he is still with us."

"How can a ghost even interact with a living person, anyway?" Karin asked from where she was trying to squeeze all the air out of Ichigo's lungs. "Everyone says normal people can't see ghosts."

"Mommy is hardly normal, sweetheart." Masaki answered.

"Also when I decided to stay in the living world and marry your mother, I got a very special gigai – a body- so that I could provide for my wonderful family." Isshin finished with a goofy grin on his face.

"And Ichi-nii has a gigai too?" Karin asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, Ichigo jumped in before Isshin could answer. It was much easier to say yes. He didn't think the twins would understand the difference between him possessing his own body and a shinigami utilizing a false body.

The the twins sniffed some more, but took to heart the assurance that they were not going to loose their brother.

Then suddenly an epiphany hit Yuzu. Everyone at the table could see her eyes light up in understanding. Her eyes widened comically and her mouth hung open. She bounced up and down in her seat. "I get it now." She said excitedly. "Mommy married a zombie!"

Masaki gaped at her daughter completely unsure of what to say.

"Whaaaa..." Was the only response Isshin could come up with.

"That's silly, Yuzu," Karin said taking it upon herself to be the voice of reason. "Tou-san's not stumbling around all like: 'Braaiiinsss.'" She held her arms out in front of her and did her best impersonation of a classic zombie from a horror movie.

Ichigo laughed out loud. A real laugh like he hadn't in months, probably years. The image of Isshin lurching around searching for the elusive brain was just too funny for him to hold it in. His sister's impersonation did not help the matter. His parents shared a secret smile at seeing him laugh. They could count that as a success in their efforts to help Ichigo regain some of the innocence he seemed to have lost.

"How do you meet a zombie?" Yuzu asked her mother.

"Shinigami, honey, daddy was a Shinigami." Isshin corrected weakly. He felt it was very important for his daughters to understand that he was not an undead flesh eating menace."

"You aren't a Shinigami anymore?" Karin asked.

Isshin sighed. "No, I gave up my powers as a Shinigami to be with your mother and raise three beautiful children." Isshin said throwing his arms wide to encompass everyone at the table.

Ichigo snorted. E knew a sane Isshin was too good to be true.

It seemed that they were going to be getting the sugar coated version. Not that he blamed his parents. Karin and Yuzu were way too young to understand that their dad had had committed treason, went AWOL, and probably broke a hundred other laws in Seireitei to save mom's soul from destruction and have his little family. If he ignored his father's usual antics Ichigo could absolutely respect the man for doing what he thought was the right thing to do- from a distance.

_You are much like him, Ichigo. _Ossan said, always the one to remind Ichigo of exactly where he came from, and why he was the way he was. Ichigo had never felt closer to his father than he did upon realizing that. He had broken into Seireitei and Los Noches to save his friends after all. He might even end up acting more like his old man one day. The thought terrified him.

"But how did you meet?" Yuzu repeated jolting Ichigo out of his thoughts. She was getting frustrated that no one would answer her question.

Isshin patted her on the head in apology. "Well, I cam to the human world to chase down a really strong hollow. I ended up getting into a bit of trouble." He said sheepishly. It wasn't his most epic battle ever.

Masaki finished the story for Isshin when it became obvious that he was stalling. "I had to save your father from the hollow."

"Mommy saved daddy from a bad spirit and lived happily ever after." Yuzu said shifting the story into more familiar territory. "It's like a fairy tale."

"No, if it were a fairy tale, daddy would have saved mommy, but mommy is too cool for that." Karin argued.

"Exactly." Masaki said. She was more than ready to end the story there. She doubted her children were ready to know that she would have died from that hollow if Isshin had not come back to thank her. Ichigo was very unimpressed with their little story as well. He at least knew the truth. Masaki excused the twins from the table and had them drag off Isshin to play so that she could talk to him.

"Ichigo"

"Yes, I know the whole story. He said immediately. "Dad told me when I had to have my zanpakuto reforged. I know that you are a Quincy, and somehow so am I."

Masaki was very surprised by that revelation. What kind of Quincy carried a zanpakuto anyway. "You can use Quincy skills?" She asked curious of the answer.

"The only Quincy skill that I have used is Blut Vene." Masaki smirked at that. Blut Vein was her specialty after all. "It was an accident. I didn't even notice I was doing it at the time, but now I know I can learn. Ossan can't wait to teach me."

Masaki hugged her son. "It would make me very proud to have you learn the Quincy Arts." She said. "But not until your homework is done."

Ichigo groaned. "None of that now." Masaki said standing. "You have to keep your grades up. And don't think I wont be checking your work young man."

Ichigo trudged up stairs dragging his feet the whole way. So what if he was over acting the angst a bit? The next hour would not be fun either way.

3

Later that evening Ichigo sat on the floor of his room and entered his inner world. He had finished his homework and passed his mother's inspection. He had tried to explain that it was not the work itself that was his issue with school. Even though he was bored the entire time he was in class. Bored he could handle; bored was a vacation. It was the prospect of loosing his temper around children who did not know any better when they antagonized him. In his experience the fights were inevitable. But for some reason his mother did not know about the fight he had already had. It seemed Isshin had chosen to keep that to himself. Ichigo assumed Isshin would be the one to go to the parent teach conference also.

He opened his eyes to see a vista of sideways skyscrapers and scanned the area for Ossan. The zanpakuto was predictably perched on a nearby flag pole studying him. Having Ossan, Ichigo continued to scan for Shiro. He did not feel like being surprised tonight.

"I have asked m counter part to leave us alone for the duration of your training." Ossan said. He leapt off of the flag pole to stand in front of Ichigo. "Learning how to manipulate reishii as a Quincy takes concentration. The hollow has proven to be a distraction in the past."

It is hard to concentrate when someone is trying to kill you." Ichigo conceded. "But I do work best under pressure. Are you going to teach me like that?"

Ossan thought about that for a moment." Unfortunately that method will not work well for learning Quincy skills. Shiro can use your instincts under pressure to drive you past your current power limits. Quincy's do not work that way. All of our skills are at first counter-intuitive in their use. I am afraid you will have to learn the hard way."

"What about when I used Blut Vene?" I did not even know what it was at the time."

"True Blood Quincy can use Blut instinctively, true. But that is all. The closer you are to the source of the Quincy powers the more those powers will want to protect you. For everyone else Blut is a learned skill."

Ichigo frowned in thought. "But I am not a true Quincy." He said confused. "I am a Shinigami and also a hollow."

Ossan shrugged. He seemed to be as stumped by that one as Ichigo was. "It may be because Quincy's are a living race and Shinigami are not." He allowed There has never been a child from a Shinigami/Quincy union before." He shook his head as if to clear it. "But speculating on the origins of your abilities is not whey we are here."

Ichigo sat down on the window beneath him. For some reason he suspected that this was not going to be an overly active lesson. "So what do I do first?"

"First I would say that you have to learn reiatsu sensing, but we do not have time for that. To disable the hougyoku you will be using the spirit ribbons. We know that you can find that."

Ichigo's face dropped in consternation. "We have our work cut out for us don't we?"

"Yes."

After a moment of silence Ichigo glared at Ossan. " Thanks for the confidence boost. What do I do?"

"Keeping our original goal of destroying the hougyoku in mind, I will be teaching you how to do that specificity. We will expand on it later." He crossed his arms. "First, you need to find my spirit ribbon. This will make it easier on you in the long run and cut out the finer points of reiatsu sensing that could take decades for you to master."

Ichigo snorted, but concentrated until he felt a spirit ribbon brush the back of his hand. "At least I am good at this part. You think the hougyoku will have a ribbon?"

"If it has a reiryouku signature, it has a ribbon." Ossan said. "It is only a matter of finding it. Good, now draw a little bit of reiryouku through the ribbon and into yourself."

Ichigo pulled. He knew almost immediately that he had pulled too much. The ribbon flared so brightly he thought that it would turn to ash. What did happen was much more traumatic. He lost control over the flow of the reiryouku and his whole inner world flashed white for a moment. Ichigo blinked spots from his eyes. Ossan stood calmly, his usual tinted glasses were completely black.

Ichigo scowled. "A warning would have been nice." He grumbled. He looked around to see if there was any lasting damage to his inner world. Finding none he turned back to Ossan. "What happened? Should I try again?"

"What I expected to happen." Ichigo's scowl deepened at the cryptic answer. "That was a success."

Ichigo blinked. "I did that right?"

"Yes," Ossan answered with a faint smile. Ichigo felt proud of him self for earning that rare smile. "The bright flash was my energy merging with yours. You took too much, but you executed the technique correctly. That is the first step in utilizing reishi."

"How does that even work if your reiryouku is my reiryouku?" Ichigo asked.

"A Shinigami's power splits to form their zanpakuto. What you did was take some back."

"Are you okay?" Ichigo asked concerned.

"I am part of you. Any reiryouku you take from me will be replenished from your own given enough time. That is why I had you start with me. If you had accidentally drained me I could be able to pull myself back together given time." Ossan admitted.

"I could kill someone doing that couldn't I?" Ichigo asked pale.

"Yes, you can. It is important that if you are to draw any significant amount of energy you stick to reishi." He paused for a moment considering Ichigo. The boy was about to learn exactly why the Shinigami had worked so hard to try to destroy the Quincy. "Or you could absorb the reishi of your opponents and make it your own."

"Ichigo started in realization. "Like when Quincy's kill hollows?"

Ichigo hugged his knees. He did not want to admit, not even to himself, but this ability scared him more than the thought of loosing himself to his hollow did. He could literally kill a soul by draining it's energy. "Were the Shinigami right to kill the Quincy?" He asked. "If they can do that..."

"Most Quincys only need a small portion of one soul to recharge their reserves. The problem lies in breaking the original pattern of the reiryouku. A soul cannot reform in the Soul Society if part of it is missing. There are currently only two Quincys that can do this on a large scale. One is Yhwach; the other is you. It is impossible for every other Quincy to drain even one soul as the amount they need for their weapons is miniscule in comparison to a Shinigami. Taking more would make the Quincy's soul explode from over loading their own soul. They do always take some though. As to not do so disrupts the whole process and they themselves could die. The absorption is automatic."

Ichigo chewed on his lip. Based on what his zanpakuto said the Shinigami tried to exterminate a whole race based on what a select few could do. "They always told me that a soul killed by a Quincy arrow was destroyed."

"In effect it is." Ossan said He could not sugar coat this subject. The essence of being a Quincy was control for a reason. Loosing that control had dire consequences. "Once a Quincy takes even a bit of that soul into themselves the pattern that soul took is gone."

"So it's not really destroyed?"

"It is no longer a soul." Ossan said bluntly. "The conservation laws you learn in school do apply to reishi and reiryouku." He studied his wielder. "Did the Shinigami choose correctly?" he asked throwing the question Ichigo had asked him back at him. It would be helpful to know whether Ichigo could fully accept his Quincy power. Even if he had already accepted Ossan himself it did not mean he accepted or even knew all of the abilities. Indeed he had fully accepted the original Zangetsu without knowing it was the hollow he battled every day.

"No," Ichigo said quietly.

"Why?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know." He searched for words that would not come.


	5. Chapter 5

1

Shunpo behind your opponent into his natural blind spot. Reverse grip on trench knife, backwards jab to puncture through back of torso and turn into the knife. Swing Khyber knife and decapitate.

Ichigo watched clinically as the low level hollow disintegrated before him. It was too easy for him now. After all he had been through, and all the evolutions his powers had gone through, the low level hollows that hunted the human world were way too weak to be a challenge to him. He had begun to practice more complicated maneuvers on the low level hollows just to make things interesting. He looked around the park, one of his favorite hunting grounds. The swings were empty even in the after noon and a peaceful quiet seemed to permeate the air. Ichigo was bored out of his mind. He wanted to rip his hair out in frustration.

It had been two years since he had woken up in the past. Two years of training. Ichigo could now wield his blades almost as easily as he ever had in his past. The atrophy of his spiritual powers finally worked out. Ossan commented often that Ichigo was better than he had been before for having the time to train before the next big disaster.

Within one month of coming to the past he had convinced his parents to let him take up hollow hunting as a hobby. The hollow that he had killed in their own back yard had help tremendously in getting his point across. But even with the distraction that last two years of relative peace had been grating on his nerves. It had reminded him too much of the time he had spent powerless in the fact that there was nothing at the moment that he could do to further his goals.

A large part of his frustration, Ichigo would admit, was learning the Quincy techniques. It was the first time since trying and subsequently aborting learning kido that a new skill did not come easily to him. After his first success with Ossan he had begun working on keeping Ossan's power signature separate from his own. It was much like trying to stop a tsunami with his bare hands. It had taken him ages just to pry the two apart again, and then he had to hold them separate. Ichigo was pretty sure he had sprained his brain at some point in his training.

"You are getting very good at dispatching hollows, Ichigo-kun." The mild voice of Urahara Kisuke pulled him from this musings.

"This guy was nothing." Ichigo said casually. Two years of dealing with Urahara had done wonders for his patience as well. The man was as cagey as ever. He never seemed to miss a training session with Shiro, and he shadowed Ichigo while he was out hollow hunting as well. In short, Urahara had become Ichigo's own personal stalker.

Other than that the two of them had worked out a sort of not quite friendship that seemed to work just to spite them both. If Urahara was overly curious at times or made the odd and disturbingly correct analysis of Ichigo's abilities it was never confirmed. If Ichigo got frustrated and insulted or threatened Urahara, the man did not comment on that either.

Urahara tipped his hat in reply. A mysterious smile spread across his face. "The Shinigami assigned to Karakura is headed this way." He said with a faraway look on his face. He tapped his closed fan against his chin. An annoying habit that made Ichigo want to snatch the damn thing and shred it. "He seems to be getting rather lazy since you are taking so many of his assignments. He no longer makes it a point to be punctual."

Ichigo sheathed his blades and fell into step beside Urahara and nodded in agreement. Low level Shinigami were so... human sometimes.

It was starting to get late, but he thought that now would be a good time to bring up the hogyouku. Ichigo had been receiving mental instructions on how to handle this subject for the past week. Ever since Ossan had deemed him proficient at manipulating reishi.

Ichigo had learned that when finesse was called for it was best to listen to his inner Quincy. Kami he hoped Ishida never found out about that; the other boy would be completely insufferable.

"Geta-boshi," Ichigo began as they walked along to the shoten. He ignored his zanpakuto's insistence that the address Urahara properly on the grounds that it would tip him off that something was up. Ichigo had come to the conclusion long ago that the less time you gave Urahara to analyze a situation the more success you had at getting what you wanted. "I need to talk to you about something."

Urahara raised his eyebrows. Ichigo had never professed any need for his insight. "Oh?" He was very curious now. Usually when he accompanied the boy on hollow hunts he was ignored.

"There are somethings I need to prevent from happening. I need your help to do that." Ichigo said looking like he had just swallowed a lemon. Even Urahara's help was too eccentric for his taste.

"And risk distorting the time line?" Urahara asked, having read up on every time traveling theory science fiction had to offer. Real data was, needless to say, in short supply.

"Oh, the time line was smashed to bits when my mother lived." Ichigo said shrugging. He really didn't care if the future turned out different as long as the people he cared for were safe. Just saving his mother made it worth it.

"I see." Urahara said quietly. He continued more stridently. "I would love to impart my wisdom on the next generation, Ichigo-kun, but my initial condition still stands. I know so little about you and your experiences..."

"I'm sure you have figured out enough." Ichigo said crisply.

"You wont get anything out of me unless you share your version of the future with me." Urahara said with an air of finality. Ichigo glanced at him. It was one of the few times he had ever heard him being serious.

They made it to the shoten, and Urahara walked in ahead of Ichigo without waiting. Ichigo followed him inside. He nodded at Tessai who returned the nod briefly. Ichigo had no idea how the man felt about the strange mentor/student relationship Ichigo had developed with his boss; it was even stranger than it had been the first time around. Tessai seemed to accept everything and backed Urahara one hundred percent no matter the situation.

"I am willing to tell you about some of it." Ichigo huffed as soon as the door was closed securely behind him. Now he had Urahara's undivided attention. "But I want one thing in return." He said trying not to back away from the gleam in Urahara's eyes.

"Oh?" The blond man said.

"Let me destroy the Hougyoku." Ichigo said staring Urahara directly in the eyes.

Urahara dropped his fan. It clattered loudly on the floor. He pulled his hat down over his eyes to hide the anger and indignation there. But Ichigo saw clearly the hard line his mouth had formed. This was a touchy subject for the shopkeeper. "I have been trying to destroy the Hougyoku for over one hundred years." Urahara said in a low rough voice. "What makes you think that a young man like yourself can succeed where I have failed?"

Ichigo touched his zanpakuto gently. "The unique push and pull of my reiryouku gives me some unique abilities." He said evenly. He was only repeating what Ossan had told him. He did not really understand what that meant beyond hollow push, Quincy pull. It sounded horribly zen to him.

Urahara studied him. "Unique abilities, huh." He said very thoughtful for a moment. "I could give you the chance. If I find the information you give me useful or interesting enough. What would you be exchanging for the privilege?"

"Don't you want to know how I know about the Hougyoku at all?" Ichigo said with a teasing smile. "It was what Aizen needed to complete his plans, after all." He frowned at Urahara. "And I think you wanted him to have it."

Urahara missed the accusation. He could not believe what Ichigo said. Had this boy perhaps been the one to defeat Aizen once he got out of hand? He licked his lips. He could see decades worth of carefully laid plans within plans being unraveled by the errant time traveler. Urahara could not for the life of him figure out why his future self had chosen to send this boy back in time.

"You are going to have to give me more than that, Ichigo-kun." Urahara said trying to act nonchalant even as he saw himself grabbing the boy by the shoulders and shaking the information out of him if necessary.

"Alright." Ichigo said shrugging. He was completely missing the gravity of the situation as far as Urahara was concerned. Ichigo had no problem telling Urahara what he wanted to know if it meant he could prevent the winter war all together. "I will tell you about the part the Hougyoku played in Aizen's plans and the Winter War.

"I suppose that will do." Urahara said trying not to grin. He was finally going to get some clue as to what had previously happened in the future. Urahara ran through that thought again and tried to decided if it made sense. He decided it would work and turned his attention back to Ichigo who was getting impatient with his wandering attention. "But you must promise not to use the Hougyoku for yourself."

Ichigo snorted. "I don't need it."

"Don't need it?" Urahara asked intrigued.

"You have seen my zanpakuto spirits," Ichigo said. "I don't need it to break down the barrier between hollow and Shinigami. It's a moot point when your zanpakuto is half hollow, and I definitely don't need it for more power."

"Good point. So it is safe to assume that you can use a hollow's powers, like say cero?"

"I'm sure it's possible," Ichigo hedged. He had never, after all, consciously used cero. "Quit fishing for information on my abilities and get the Hax Marble of Doom." Ichigo rubbed his eyes. He had a low threshold for verbal sparing, and Urahara could reach it without even trying.

Ossan grumbled about his insensitivity. _Quiet you. It's not like I could actually win a battle of wits with him anyway._

While Ichigo was chastising Ossan. Urahara was having his own mental battle. His eye twitched. "Hax. Marble. Of. Doom." He said oblivious of Ichigo's inner arguments. The boy really did have the most disrespectful way of speaking.

_You should not push him, Ichigo. _Ossan said. _There is much he will over look in your behavior, that is the kind of man he is, but it is not wise to belittle his creations. They are wondrous in their own right. Especially the Hougyoku._

Ichigo studied Urahara for a moment and realized that the older man was biting the inside of his cheek and gripping Benihime tight enough for wood to creak. "Eh..." Ichigo trailed off He really wasn't good at apologizing. "Sorry about that."

Urahara jerked out of his musings. "Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo winced. It was never a good sign when Urahara used his family name.

Urahara disappeared from view. It was a testament to his anger that he was no longer acting as the humble shopkeeper and used shunpo.

Ichigo stared at the spot where Urahara had stood and took a shaky breath. As fun as it was to rile the man up he had never seen Urahara that mad. He had to remember that Urahara was an ex-captain of the Gotei 13. He really was an enemy Ichigo did not need at the moment.

Tessai took the opportunity while Urahara was gone to have his say on the matter. "The boss is being very accommodating for you. He does not just let anyone into his house and privet training grounds. You should be more grateful."

Ichigo chewed on his lower lip. Both Ossan and Tessai reprimanding him really did make him feel like a heel. The truth was he still did not know how to treat Urahara. The man drove him nuts. And while he did enjoy having the upper hand in their interactions for once, he knew that it could turn on him in an instant.

He still did not know if he could even trust Urahara. All he knew for sure was that Urahara never meant him direct harm. That much he did believe. The man playing with his soul like it was silly putty not withstanding.

"I really am sorry." Ichigo said allowed as Urahara walked up grey haori swishing angrily behind him like a cat's tail.

"Apology accepted." Urahara said graciously after a moment if a bit condescendingly. He held out the Hougyoku for inspection. It glowed faintly but otherwise looked like an innocuous black marble. "Here it is. I am also interested in how you plan to destroy it."

Ichigo scratched his head. Why was that even important as long as it wasn't there to cause problems anymore. "I'm going to drain it of it's power."

"How?" Urahara asked eyes wide.

"It's a Quincy thing..." Ichigo trailed off not sure he should tell Urahara about his ability to absorb souls. "I'm going to drain the power and expel it."

Urahara sighed. "Interesting, but why are you so dead set on destroying it? It could be useful later after all."

Ichigo personally thought that getting rid of a powerful object that was coveted by a megalomaniac was just common sense, but he decided to go for the more diplomatic explanation. He had already pissed Urahara off once in this conversation after all.

"Aizen had his own Hougyoku, also incomplete." Urahara nodded well aware of that fact. "He stole your Hougyoku and fuzed yours with his to make a complete Hougyoku."

Urahara frowned. "It sounds good in theory, but there is no data supporting the notion that each one is even half complete. Was this the only solution he had?"

"The only one I know of."

"What did he end up doing with it?"

"Well he used his first to give hollows Shinigami powers. A reverse of what he did to the Visards." Urahara reacted to his mention of the Visards so strongly that Benihime scraped across the floor leaving a scuff mark on the wood. Ichigo paused to let him collect himself before continuing. "They were called Arrancar. But after he fused the two Hougyoku he implanted it into his own body. Aizen wanted to become a transcendental being."

Urahara blinked. He was very uneasy with that revelation. "It is safe to assume then that his goal was to usurp the Spirit King."

Ichigo nodded. "He was going to sacrifice everyone in Karakura to make the Ouken."

"I take it he did not succeed."

"We stopped him."

"We?"

"You and I."

"Just the two of us?" Urahara said as if to himself. Ichigo did not say anything in reply. "If he did fuze himself with the Hougyoku it should have made him immortal."

"He did survive." Ichigo said with a shrug. "He would have died several times if not for the Hougyoku. Immortality was the only reason he lived. The Hougyoku would force him to evolve every time he would have died."

"How exactly was he defeated?"

Ichigo licked his lips. There was so much about his own abilities he would rather Urahara did not know. The biggest of which was that he could and would sacrifice all of them if the need arose. "I became more powerful than him." Urahara looked skeptical at that. "And I had a lot of help. I was the one who distracted him while you cast a binding kido capable of holding him."

Urahara contemplated Ichigo's words. Ichigo could tell that Urahara knew he wasn't telling him everything. "Tell me about his evolutions." Urahara said suddenly.

"They got really weird." Ichigo said face scrunched up at the memory of the monster Aizen had become. "First he got more powerful. He sprouted butterfly wings at one point. After that he evolved into a giant hollow butterfly with six extra heads and three hollow holes."

"Three hollow holes," Urahara repeated to himself. Ichigo could hardly believe that he did not react to the butterfly thing. "I am not sure I know a bakudo that could hold such a being." He said slyly.

"Like I said: I was stronger. But he didn't loose because of it." Ichigo shuffled his feet.

"Why do you think he lost in the end?"

That was the million dollar question wasn't it. Aizen had been powerful enough in the beginning to defeat them all. "He lost himself." Ichigo said nodding definitively. "Everyone told me that Aizen was a master tactician. I honestly think they were trying to scare me. They said he could read his opponents in an instant. He laid this plan over the span of decades and had all the senior officers of the Gotei 13 under the spell of Kyoka Suigetsu."

Urahara nodded in agreement knowing all of that to be true.

"But in the end he could not read me." Urahara snorted at Ichigo's words. "He didn't even notice I was more powerful than he was. He even gloated that one of his strikes had decimated a mountain." Here Ichigo blushed. He had not meant to rearrange the landscape. "I did that on accident when I blocked one of his attacks. But in the end, I think that he lost because he didn't really want to be a god; he didn't want to be alone."

Urahara thought about that. The boy obviously had an obscene amount of power even if he was trying to hide it: badly. The hollow zanpakuto's, Shiro's threats towards him seemed all the more real all of a sudden. Zanpakuto may not be able to force their wielders to do anything, but they had an amazing amount of leverage over them once trust was established. Zangestu could in fact convince Ichigo to pull a stunt like Aizen did in Ichigo's probable future. It had happened before. One of the success stories was Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto himself and the formation of the Gotei 13. How much would their world change by this boy's influence?

Urahara's musings moved to Aizen himself, leaving that question for when he had more information. Power had turned the man he knew into a monster. Urahara could already see the signs. The Vizard were a glaring sign in themselves. He was brought back to the present by Ichigo's fidgeting.

"Aizen never put you under the spell of Kyoka Suigetsu?" Urahara asked. It was a glaring hole in the story. It would also have been the first thing he himself would have done. Since, in the end, Ichigo had been the only one able to match Aizen."

Ichigo was real uncomfortable now. His own disregard and fights with Zangetsu made him sensitive when he recognized the same discord in others. What had happened to Kyoka Suigetsu made him ill to think about it. "Aizen was too far gone to use Kyoka Suigetsu by the time when he would have thought it necessary. For a long time I was too far below him in power to be an actual threat. One time when I came real close to killing him his zanpakuto disintegrated. His only reaction was to say that the Hougyoku deemed that he did not need a zanpakuto any longer.

Urahara choked on that revelation. To shrug off an integral part of your soul... His hands caressed Benihime soothing both of them. "So it did break him in the end." He said to no one.

Ichigo wondered what the hell Urahara was talking about, but wasn't in any mood to continue the conversation. "So anyway," he said breaking into Urahara's contemplations once more. He also desperately wanted to stop thinking about his final fight with Aizen. It wouldn't happen this time; he promised himself. "I need a favor."

Urahara smiled game to move along to less disturbing topics. "Now you ask for a favor." He said playfully.

"Well, I could just destroy this here." Ichigo said waving the had holding the hougyoku tward the back of the shop and the basement training grounds. "The training grounds are nice and big, but I would take it out along with the block above it."

"My my, you can do that?" The man's interest was obvious. Ichigo scowled.

"With this," He held up the Hougyoku again. "you bet I could."

"You expect so much destruction draining it as you said?" Urahara asked alarmed. Maybe handing over the Hougyoku wasn't such a good idea.

"All that energy has to go somewhere." Ichigo said.

Urahara laughed nervously. "Putting it into a power draining gigai as I had intended to do would accomplish much the same thing with less explosions."

"Sure, but my way has less of a chance of the Hougyoku ending up in the hands of a megalomaniac. Besides if you really wanted to make sure the Hougyoku was gone for good you would be in that gigai yourself." Ichigo said voice laced with venom. He still wasn't too happy about Urahara using Rukia to fix his own mistakes.

"I see," Urahara said with a slump to his shoulders. "My mistake. But I have never been self-sacrificing, Ichigo-kun."

"Of course not." Ichigo huffed. He rolled the Hougyoku between his palms. Such a silly little thing to hold so much power. "I need a place where I can discharge a massive amount of energy without anyone close enough to catch me doing it."

"You want me to send you to Hueco Mundo?" Urahara asked. It was scary how fast he caught on sometimes, Ichigo thought.

"I know you can, but no." Ichigo continued to play with the Hougyoku. "I don't want to be stuck there where Aizen has a base and all of the strongest hollows live. I would be instantly discovered and/or eaten. I was actually thinking the outer districts of Rukongai."

"Soul Society, hmm?"

"You know as well as I do that they don't monitor the outer districts as well as they should."

"Or at all." Urahara said with a smile. "So a Senkaimon that is untraceable. You don't ask for much do you? Would you like to come home as well?"

Ichigo glared at the man. Urahara and Kurotsuchi were way too much alike. Even if Urahara was far more subtle about threats.

"Don't worry Ichigo-kun, I will bring you back free of charge." Urahara said happily.

"Thanks," Ichigo said not really sure he was thankful yet. "How long will this take?"

It will take me a couple of days to put together an untraceable Senkaimon." Urahara replied. "Now, it's getting late. Let's get you home before your mother assumes the worst and comes after me."

Ichigo ended up leaving the Hougyoku with Urahara that night. He felt no need to have it close to him. It had already been in Urahara's hands for over a century. One more night would not hurt. Oddly enough, the shopkeeper was completely trustworthy when it came to powerful technologies. Ichigo was sure that if Urahara had not made it himself he would have more fun experimenting on it than trying to take over the world with it.

Ichigo walked though his front door half expecting a fist or a roundhouse kick to the face even after two years of coming home largely unassaulted by his father. There had been that one time he had been almost tickled to death upon arriving home, but Ichigo preferred not to think about that or admit it happened. Smells of home cooking wafted toward him and made his mouth water. His mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner while Isshin, Karin and Yuzu watched some inane game show on TV.

Ichigo sat at the kitchen table pointedly refusing to acknowledge the TV show. Masaki stopped stirring dinner long enough to walk over and drop a kiss on the top of his head.

Unlike most boys his physical age, Ichigo never complained about open displays of affection from his mother. One the contrary, he tended to soak up the attention like a sponge, and if that meant more beatings for those who made fun of him at school for his daily goodby ritual of a hug and a kiss, so be it.

"Did you manage to get your homework done while at the shoten?" Masaki asked casually picking up the spoon and stirring dinner.

Ichigo tensed. This was the only thing he and his mother disagreed on.

"Er, I did not have the time." He mumbled vaguely.

Upon hearing this his mother slammed the spoon down on the counter and stood over Ichigo with her hands on her hips. The rest of the family turned their attention from the TV to peek over the back of the couch. The mother son drama was always far more entertaining than a mere game show.

"You need to make the time." Masaki growled shoving her face up close to her son's. Ichigo leaned back in response. Masaki had learned early that the more aggressive she was with the new Ichigo about making her point, the more he seemed to listen. One one level it disturbed her a great deal to have to be so aggressive with her own son. On all other levels though anything she could use to get through Ichigo's thick skull was a godsend. He was such a stubborn young man and far too set in his ways for even an eighteen year old.

The most bewildering thing about it was that when she mentioned her concerns to Isshin he laughed it off. Isshin saw nothing wrong with being a little aggressive with Ichigo. "It just means he is a true Shiba." Isshin said. "All of my family's most potent teaching moments are preceded and followed by a sound ass kicking." Masaki had been very skeptical at first, but this time her husband was actually right.

"But mo~m," Ichigo whined. "I've got to train."

"You can spare a couple of hours a day to do your homework." Masaki said completely unmoved by Ichigo's attempt at puppy dog eyes. The boy couldn't do innocent to save his life. "After dinner you are going to sit right there until your homework is done young man. Or you will not be going to Urahara-san's for the next week."

Ichigo groaned and smacked his head into the table.


End file.
